BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Eastern commander Khalifa Haftar will run in Libya's presidential elections due next month, he announced in a televised speech on Tuesday.

       "Elections are the only way out of the severe crisis that our country has plunged into," said Haftar, who was expected to formally register later on Tuesday at the election centre in Benghazi.

       Haftar, commander of a force called the Libyan National Army, waged war on factions in the west after the country split in 2014, including a 14-month offensive to capture Tripoli which was repelled by the internationally recognised government.

       (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfali in Benghazi and Maher Chmaytelli in Dubai; Editing by Catherine Evans and Giles Elgood)