US envoy meets Libyan commander to push for elections

The U.S. ambassador to Libya has met with a Libyan military commander amid international efforts to salvage a U.N.-brokered roadmap for elections in the North African country late this year

CAIRO -- The U.S. ambassador to Libya met Wednesday with a Libyan military commander amid international efforts to salvage a U.N.-brokered roadmap to elections in the North African country later this year. Richard Norland met with Khalifa Hifter, commander of the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. The meeting was part of U.S. efforts to support Libyan parliamentary and presidential elections in December, the U.S. Embassy said. Norland “continues to focus on the urgency of supporting the difficult compromises necessary to establish the constitutional basis and legal framework needed now in order for the elections to take place on Dec. 24,” the embassy wrote on Twitter. “The United States supports the right of the Libyan people to select their leaders through an open democratic process and calls on key figures to use their influence at this critical stage to do what is best for all Libyans,” it said.