Libyan army leader Khalifa Haftar arrives in Cairo

CAIRO - 1 November 2017: The Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan Army, Khalifa Haftar, has arrived in Cairo, according to Extra News.

Egypt exerted massive efforts to break the current political stalemate in Libya by hosting many Libyan delegations so as to achieve true reconciliation; thus enhancing the means of coexistence between Libyans, ending the state of polarization and restoring social unity in Libya.

Following the ouster and killing of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libyan factions engaged in a state of civil war that escalated in 2014 and resulted in power splitting between the two rival governments in the capital of Tripoli and Tubruk, supported by the self-proclaimed Libyan national army led by Khalifa Haftar.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi formed the Egyptian National Committee on Libya in 2016 which will cooperate with the United Nations to take the lead on the initiative and sit at the dialogue table to reach a Libyan agreement.

It hosted a three-day meeting starting June 7, 2017 with two delegations from the Libyan eastern region and Misrata to urge all parties to comply with the deal brokered by the UN in December 2015, and to create a unity government and heal the division in Libya.

The recent talk was held by Egypt’s Army Chief of Staff Mahmoud Hegazy, who was assigned to mediate between the Libyan factions with the Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar in Cairo in August, to discuss the latest developments in Libya including the results of a recent Paris meeting between Libyan factions.

The Egyptian National committee on Libya led by the Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Mahmoud Hijazi welcomed the two Libyan military communication committees in September as the Libyan Military Institution chose Egypt as a starting point to reorganize the Libyan army.