With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibault

Obtaining guarantees on holding elections scheduled for late December in Libya: such a result would already be a success for German diplomacy tasked, 18 months after a first conference, with organizing a new edition dubbed "Berlin II". Only significant difference this time: Libyan actors will participate in the meeting.

Commitments that have remained a dead letter

Germany welcomes the fact that progress has been made in recent months with a ceasefire between the internationally recognized regime in Tripoli and the forces of Khalifa Haftar in the eastern part of the country; a unity government between these two rival factions has been established; oil extraction has resumed.

But these advances are primarily due to Turkey's support on the ground in Tripoli. And the commitments made at the first Berlin conference by Ankara and Moscow to withdraw the forces they sent there have remained a dead letter.

A minimal withdrawal, for example, of Syrian mercenaries, would already constitute a success at this new conference. As for guarantees on holding elections in late December, they must, if they are proclaimed, not remain a dead letter.

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