Germany’s Merkel meets Libyan military commander Haftar

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met renegade Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in Berlin on Tuesday and reiterated the importance of finding a political solution for his war-torn country.

The meeting comes less than two months after an international conference was hosted in Berlin and touted at the time as a significant breakthrough in the years-long conflict.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Merkel stressed there can be no military solution to the conflict and so “a ceasefire and progress in the political process, in line with the decisions of the Berlin conference, are necessary”, her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said in a statement.

He did not detail Haftar’s response.

Leaders in the German capital on January 19 agreed to uphold a United Nations arms embargo and end military support for the country’s warring factions. The embargo has not been effective, however, and the Berlin meeting failed to make any real difference on the ground.