Libya’s Haftar meets with Egyptian officials in Cairo

CAIRO – 25 April 2018: Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army, arrived in Cairo Wednesday to hold meetings with a number of Egyptian officials, Tarek al-Jaroushi, a member of the national security and defense committee, told Egypt Today, affirming that Haftar is in good health.

Jaroushi stated that Hafar will meet with the Libyan Air Force chief of staff, Brigadier General Saqr al-Jaroushi, in Cairo and will return to Libya hours after the meeting.

Moreover, the media office of Libyan military spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari said that Haftar will return to Benghazi on Thursday and that he will deliver a speech amid an arrival celebration.

Officers and associates of the General Command, the dignitaries and officials of the Eastern Region of Libya, as well as civil society organizations, will all take part in the celebration.

Fadhel al-Deeb, political advisor of Haftar, revealed that the Libyan military leader was admitted to a hospital in Paris to conduct a medical checkup.

He said in an exclusive statement to Egypt Today that Haftar visited Cairo recently and then traveled to France to conduct medical examinations, denying media reports that Haftar experienced a stroke.

"We assure the Libyan and Arab people and ask them not to pay attention to such rumors on various media outlets," Deeb said.

He asserted that Haftar is in good health, and he will return to the Libyan territory within days, after being reassured by doctors on his health.

In the meantime, Mesmari also denied the death rumors in a statement on Facebook on Friday.

Since the ouster of long-time Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi more than six years ago, the war-torn country has drawn wide international and regional attention because of its threat to North African and European national security.

Libya, which is struggling to get through the critical political situation that it has been experiencing since 2011, is not only trying to unify its army, but is also longing to revive its political functions by conducting presidential and legislative elections by mid-2018.

Egypt has hosted several meetings to bring the conflicting factions to the negotiating table, alongside members of Tobruk’s House of Representatives, to resolve the Libyan crisis and amend the Skhirat Agreement, which aims at ending the Libyan civil war.

Haftar now controls the eastern side of Libya and is cooperating with the government of the House of Representatives, known as the Tobruk government. He has been backed by Egypt and the UAE in facing terrorist groups that have plagued the country following the ouster of Ghaddafi.