People on either side of the divide cutting through Libya grieved Wednesday for the head of the country’s armed forces, who was killed when his plane crashed in Turkey.
General Mohammed al-Haddad and his four aides died on Tuesday after a visit to Ankara, with Turkish officials saying an electrical failure caused their plane to crash less than 15 minutes after takeoff.
“It will be hard to find a man of his calibre,” Nasreddine al-Maghribi told AFP at a cafe in Libyan capital Tripoli.
Haddad “enjoyed great popularity in the east and west of the country, and we had hoped that he would play a key role in the leadership of a united Libyan army”, said Maghribi, who is in his sixties.
Libya has been divided since a NATO-backed revolt toppled and killed longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.