Algeria to host next meeting of Libya's neighbouring countries

CAIRO – 7 May 2017: Algeria will host the 11th session of Libya’s neighboring countries meeting on Monday, May 8, marking the second time Algeria has hosted the meeting.

At this meeting, Libya's six neighboring countries will discuss the deteriorating situation in Libya in light of the high security tensions the country is witnessing as a result of the domination of large areas of the country by militant groups. Furthermore, the meeting will discuss efforts made by neighboring countries to support the political settlement led by the United Nations.

Algeria’s Minister for Maghreb, Arab and African affairs, Abdelkader Messahel, confirmed that Algeria enjoys credibility among all Libyan parties. This credibility comes from it being equidistant from all neighboring parties and its principle of non-interference in internal affairs of other countries.

Messahel stressed the importance of having a unanimous political solution and the urgent need to establish strong Libyan institutions, a unified army, and strengthening the established national union government.

The planned meeting comes less than a month after the Algerian-Russian conference in April. The conference discussed security and terrorism in the region and the case of Libya was at the top of the agenda.

Libya’s neighboring countries are the highly affected by continued fight and terrorism within its territories and are often beleaguered by illegal immigration and weapons smuggling.

Therefore, these countries are in agreement that Libyan factions should reach a political solution, not a military one, in order to combat and dismantle terrorism.

This vision is consistent with the United Nations’ efforts to push for a political resolution of the Libyan crisis in light of U.N. resolution 2259 and the Libyan political agreement signed on Dec. 17, 2015. The aforementioned resolution defines the role of each involved party and promotes a political solution following the principle of non-interference.

Over the past period, Egypt attempts to create an effective political solution in Libya continued. These efforts included hosting several Libyan meetings of parliamentarians and political figures. The 10th meeting of Libya’s neighboring countries was held in Cairo on Jan. 21 this year.

Participating countries included Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Tunisia Chad and Nigeria. The meeting’s final communiqué reaffirmed the need to maintain Libya’s stability, unity and sovereignty and rejected any foreign intervention into the country.