© Jacques Demarthon/AFP/Getty Images
Peace talks convened by the French president Emmanuel Macron, seen with the Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj (L), and Gen Khalifa Haftar (R), failed to push through Libyan elections on 10 December.
A two-day Libya conference is starting in Palermo, Italy - an event widely perceived as a counter to a similar gathering organized by France in May - as two European countries compete for the fractured nation's oil and gas assets.
The meeting in Sicily is meant to bring together key stakeholders involved in the ongoing turbulence in Libya.
The North African country, which once prided itself for high standards of living that were paid for by oil exports, remains in chaos seven years after a NATO-backed uprising ousted long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. There are two rival governments in Libya and numerous smaller players with various tribal, ideological and political affiliations playing their own games.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte denied that the meeting organized by Macron last May had
placed the two European countries at odds over Libya. However, Italy traditionally considers its former colony to be within its sphere of influence. France, which briefly occupied the southwestern Fezzan area after World War II, sees this part of Libya as important for the French presence in Central Africa.
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