The Italian government has denied that its Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, has visited Al-Rajma – east of Benghazi – to coax Khalifa Haftar into attending Palermo Conference on Monday and Tuesday.
Sources from Italian media reported Sunday that the government informed journalists about the denial of news allegations that Conte visited Al-Rajma via text messages.
Anadolu Agency reported sources from the Libyan House of Representatives as saying that on Sunday, the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrived in Libya's Al-Rajma to meet Haftar and persuade him into attending Palermo Conference.
Meanwhile, late on Saturday, an Italian official confirmed that Haftar would not be taking part in the conference despite his previous approval of participation.
Palermo Conference kick-starts Monday despite the lack of high level attendees from the international community, such as France’s Macron, Russia’s Putin, America’s Trump and Germany’s Merkel.
Both delegations for the House of Representatives and High Council of State headed by Aqila Saleh and Khalid Al-Mishri respectively arrived in Palermo Sunday.