Algeria president to attend Berlin conference on Libya

By Abdulrazzak Abdullah

ALGIERS (AA) – Algerian President Abdulmadjid Tebboune will participate in an international conference in Berlin on the Libyan crisis this month, according to the country's Presidency.

Tebboune was invited by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a phone call on Monday to attend the Jan. 19 conference and he accepted the invitation, the Presidency said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum is set to start a Gulf tour on Tuesday that will take him to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for talks on the Libyan crisis.

Algeria has rejected an offensive launched by renegade commander Khalifa Haftar to capture Tripoli from the UN-recognized government.

According to the UN, more than 1,000 people have been killed and more than 5,000 others injured since Haftar launched his campaign in April.

On Jan. 12, the internationally recognized government and Haftar accepted a cease-fire called by Turkey and Russia to end hostilities in Tripoli. However, Haftar left Moscow on Tuesday without signing the proposed deal.

Since the ouster of late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: one in eastern Libya supported mainly by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and the other in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.

*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara