Haftar puts faith in Sassou Nguesso-led AU group to help solve Libya's crisis

Libya’s rival leader Khalifa Haftar has met with Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso in Brazzaville where he expressed faith in the African Union to solve Libya’s crisis.

He visited the Central African country on Saturday, a week after the 4th African Union high level committee meeting on Libya chaired by Sassou Nguesso.

“The AU has conducted mediations which I consider a duty to help the Libyan people, unlike other mediations by Western countries who intervene only for their own interest and not the interest of our country,” Haftar told the media after the meeting.

“Although there is the international community that is helping us, the problems of Africans can only be solved by the Africans themselves, who are better acquainted with the problems that concern them,” he added.

Haftar, who is the dominant figure in eastern Libya, said he was absent at last week’s meeting because of security reasons linked to his country’s fight against terrorist groups.

The high level committee of the AU includes the heads of state and government of Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Uganda and South Africa who meet to find a lasting solution to the conflict in Libya.

Haftar has made military gains on the ground in Libya since early last year and had rejected the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in the capital, Tripoli.

International efforts to broker a political deal have resulted in two meetings between Haftar and GNA Prime Minister Fayez Seraj, one in Abu Dhabi in May and the other in Paris in July.

At the Paris meeting the two men shook hands on a ceasefire and elections next year, though doubts have been cast over Haftar’s commitment.

Since the meeting in Paris, Haftar’s Libyan National Army has threatened to advance into the eastern city of Derna, and tightened a blockade around the city.