Cairo, Feb. 11, 2021 – Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt was keen on promoting mutual relations with Libya to restore stability in the war-torn country.
Bassam Rady, spokesperson for the Egyptian presidency disclosed this in two separate statements posted on the official Facebook page of the presidential office.
“Egypt is keen to continue meeting all the needs of the Libyans to restore the country’s stability, and (help) complete the governance mechanisms for the country,” said Rady.
In his phone call with Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah, who was voted as the new Libyan prime minister, Sisi hailed “the excellent relations established between Egypt and Libya,” wishing Dbeibah and the Libyans well in light of the transitional authority’s readiness to pave the way for development.
For his part, Dbeibah highlighted the importance of boosting Egyptian-Libyan ties and continued cooperation and coordination between the two countries at all levels and with regards to different regional issues.
In another phone conversation with Mohammad Younes Menfi, the new president of the Libyan Presidency Council, Sisi said he expected the new Libyan leadership to usher in a new era in which all the state institutions would work in harmony for the national interest of the country.
Meanwhile, Menfi welcomed Egypt’s contributions to settling the Libyan crisis in the political, military, and economic fields and its role in ending the political divisions between different Libyan factions through the Cairo Declaration.
Libya has been mired in violence and political instability ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011.
Egypt has been trying to broker a political settlement for the conflict in Libya as the neighbor’s instability poses a threat to the security of the 1,200-km-long borders between the two countries.
Through the Cairo Declaration, Egypt proposed implementing a cease-fire between Libyan warring parties from June 8, 2020, disbanding militias, pulling out foreign troops, electing a presidential council representing all Libyans, and drafting a constitutional declaration for the later elections.
On Tuesday, delegations of the Libyan Parliament and the Supreme Council met in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Hurghada over a mechanism for running a referendum on the Libyan constitution.
This third round of the Libyan constitutional talks aimed at finding a legal and a constitutional base for the Libyan parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for December.
On Feb. 5, members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum elected a new prime minister and a new presidency council during a voting session in Geneva. (Xinhua/NAN)
