Fayez al-Sarraj meets Khalifa Haftar in UAE for talks

Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of Libya's UN-backed government, has met renegade general Khalifa Haftar in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in a rare meeting between the key figures from two rival Libyan camps.

The two men met face-to-face in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the LANA news agency said, for only the second time since Sarraj was named prime minister-designate after a UN-backed deal in late 2015.

Sarraj and the Government of National Accord's (GNA) other leaders arrived in Tripoli in March 2016, but they have been unable to gain recognition from the elected parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk, which supports Haftar, head of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA).

Sarraj and Haftar met "thanks to international and Arab mediation", according to LANA, which is loyal to the Tobruk-based parliament, after a first meeting in January last year.

Both men were expected to discuss army-related amendments to an agreement signed by the Libyan factions in Morocco in December 2015, according to Abu Bakr Baeira, a member of the eastern parliament.

Libyan television broadcaster 218 reported that the two held talks "in private" after posing for a photograph together.

Emirati officials did not immediately comment. #Libya's Haftar and Serraj meet in #AbuDhabi - #UAE (LANA AGENCY) pic.twitter.com/eNUtNUutDg

— Mohamad Ali Harissi (@aleeharissi) May 2, 2017 Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a close ally of Haftar, is scheduled to visit the UAE on Wednesday. It is unclear if he will be part of the talks.

Political rivalry and fighting between militias have hampered Libya's efforts to recover from the chaos that followed the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

Haftar, whose forces control much of the country's east, has refused to recognise the authority of the UN-backed GNA since it started working in the Libyan capital.

In February, Sarraj said Haftar had refused to meet him in person in Cairo for Egypt-backed talks to discuss possible amendments to the UN-backed agreement signed that gave birth to the fragile government in Tripoli.

That deal gave no role in Libya's future to Haftar.

But the army commander has since established himself as a key player, especially after seizing the country's key oil terminals in September.