Diplomatic efforts to bring Libya’s warring parties to the negotiating table are gaining momentum as Khalifa Hifter’s Libyan National Army is quickly collapsing around Tripoli in the face of intensified Turkish intervention. 

On June 4, Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, a day after GNA Foreign Minister Mohammed Siala and Vice President of the Presidential Council Ahmed Maiteeq visited Moscow. Hifter and Aguila Saleh, head of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives, meanwhile, were in Cairo June 5-6. While the talks in Ankara sent a message of resolve to “liberate” all of Libya, those in Cairo resulted in a cease-fire appeal that suits Russia’s game plan.

The diplomatic flurry comes against the backdrop of rapid changes in Libya’s war map. Following their crucial loss of the al-Watiya air base south of Tripoli in May, Hifter’s forces withdrew from the Tripoli International Airport, Ain Zara, Wadi Al-Rabi'a, Qasr bin Ghashir and Tarhuna in the first week of June. Tarhuna, a town 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Tripoli, was Hifter’s main stronghold in the west and served as a supply route in his siege of the capital. In sum, Hifter’s forces were pushed back to where they stood before mounting their offensive on Tripoli in April 2019.

The Hifter side was the first that Acting Special Representative and head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya Stephanie Williams contacted as part of talks in the 5+5 format agreed upon in Berlin in January, raising optimism that negotiations could begin soon. Yet the diplomatic flurry is far from being concerted, complicating the pursuit of a common goal. On both sides, there are proponents of negotiations and continued military strife. On the eastern camp, Hifter, who had long evaded negotiations, has been forced to toe the line of Saleh, who favors a return to negotiations, following his setbacks on the battlefield. On the Tripoli camp, which went from defenders to attackers, calls to “fight to the end” have been louder.