Qatar calls for disarming Haftar

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani called for the effective disarming of Khalifa Haftar, leader of Libyan National Army, and the withdrawal of his troops from its recently-held areas, according to what the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted the minister as saying during an interview that he felt reassured when his French counterpart told him that Paris was working to hold a national reconciliation conference in Libya.

Regional forces sided with the various parties fighting over power in Libya since 2011 uprising, which overthrew President Muammar Gaddafi.

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Sheikh Mohammed responded to a question on how to resolve the conflict, saying that it could be solved by imposing effective disarmament on Haftar that would prevent those countries from continuing to supply them with ammunition and modern weapons, according to the translated news.

Sheikh Mohammed referred later to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt, the three countries that severed ties with Qatar in 2017 in a regional conflict.

Egypt and the UAE are the major supporters of Haftar, who has earned a stature for fighting hard-line Islamists and other opponents in eastern Libya. Meanwhile, authorities in eastern Libya suggest that Qatar is supporting its rivals having Islamist inclinations in western Libya.