Egypt welcomes outcome of 3rd round of Libyan constitutional committee meetings

CAIRO – 20 June 2022: Egypt welcomed on Monday the outcomes of the third round of the Libyan constitutional committee meetings held in Cairo in coordination with the United Nations on June 12-20.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Hafez hailed in a press release the major progress and the consensus on the majority of the constitutional articles that appeared among the Libyan officials during the meetings.

He expressed hope for pursuing efforts by the Libyan committee to fulfill its mission in the nearest chance.

Egypt has been hosting the third and last round of talks within the framework of the UN-sponsored Libyan constitutional track meetings between delegations from the rival East-based Parliament and the High Council of State.

The delegations were discussing the constitutional arrangements to hold the long-awaited presidential and parliamentary elections, which will send Libyans to ballot boxes to express their free will after years of conflict and political turmoil.

Cairo also hosted the meeting of the Joint Military Committee 5 + 5 to build on the achievements of the committee since the signing of the ceasefire agreement in Libya in October 2020.

This third round of talks came amid a critical time after clashes rocked the Libyan capital of Tripoli last month when parliament-appointed Fathi Bashagha entered the city to take over government.

Bashagha left the city shortly after that following armed clashes with forces loyal to the Tripoli administration under Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, who refused to cede power except after elections are held.

The government of Dbeibah, which was formed through a UN process last year, has been blamed for not managing to hold the elections as planned last December.

During the Cairo talks, which started early this month, UN Special Advisor on Libya Stephanie Williams urged stop using force in Libya to intimidate citizens and disrupt the delicate political process in the Arab country.