Eastern Libya to host conference to rebuild war-ravaged Benghazi

The announcement by authorities in eastern Libya is seen as a desire by military strongman General Khalifa Haftar to promote a return to normality in the port, which was heavily damaged during three years of fighting between military forces and Islamist fighters.

Haftar declared the end of a campaign to oust Islamist fighters in July, with his forces reportedly celebrating by exhuming the dead bodies of Benghazi Shura Council fighters, before parading them through town.

Haftar has been accused of personally ordering attacks on civilians, having enforced a 'starve or kneel' policy in the two-year siege of the port city.

Clashes have sporadically continued in some isolated areas, while life has returned in the rest of the city, though some districts were almost completely destroyed by shelling and air strikes.

A forum titled "International Conference and Exhibition for rebuilding Benghazi city" will be held from March 19-21, the organisers said in an invitation posted online, adding that a six-day exhibition would be held the same month.

Haftar is aligned with a government and parliament in eastern Libya which was listed as the conference's sponsor.

He does not recognise the authority of the UN-backed Government of National Accord based in the capital Tripoli, instead backing an alternate Tobruk-based administration set up in the country's east.

He has steadily emerged as a key player in Libya however, and is backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates among other foreign powers.