After having been postponed several times, the international conference over the Libyan crisis, will eventually be held in Berlin on Sunday, 19 January.

Sponsored by Germany, the conference will be attended by commander Khalifa Haftar and the leader of the UN-backed government, Fayez al-Sarraj.

Haftar and al-Sarraj are to be joined by envoys from the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, Italy, the European Union and the United Nations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also extended an invitation to the African Union, the Arab League, the Republic of Congo, Algeria, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

"With the aim of supporting the work of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN special envoy, Ghassan Salame, towards a sovereign Libya and a reconciliation process, Chancellor Merkel is extending invitations for a Libya conference in Berlin on Sunday," German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Twitter.

The German government said they are expecting top-level officials, such as prime ministers and heads of state. 

Khalifa Haftar had left Moscow on Tuesday without signing an agreement for an unconditional ceasefire.

Haftar is the leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA) and allied with one of the rival administrations in Libya, which is based in the east of the country. His forces have been trying for months to take control of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, where the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) is based.