Turkey-Libya MoU violates Security Council resolutions: Egypt

CAIRO - 18 December 2019: "The memorandum of understanding signed by Turkey and Libya violates Security Council resolutions on Libya, especially resolution 1970 of 2011," Egypt stated in a message to the UN Security Council.

Ambassador Mohamed Idris, Egypt's permanent representative to the United Nations, said that the MoU also allows the transfer of weapons to militias west of the country, stressing that this MoU is a violation to Skhirat Political Agreement on Libya.

Egypt has condemned the signing of the two memoranda of understanding on security and maritime jurisdictions by Turkey and Libya shortly after the signing was announced.

“Egypt affirms that such memoranda possess no legal effect, as they cannot be recognized in light of the fact that Article 8 of the Skhirat Political Agreement on Libya, widely accepted by Libyans, defines the competences conferred to the Council of Ministers, expressly stipulating that the Council of Ministers as an entity – and not the president of the council alone – has the power to conclude international agreements,” Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said in a statement.

“It is well-known that the Council of Ministers’ membership is clearly incomplete, and that it currently suffers from a serious imbalance in the representation of the Libyan areas. Accordingly, the restricted role of the prime minister is limited to managing the council’s affairs. All attempts to build legal arrangements with any other country comprise a serious breach of the Skhirat Agreement.

The MoUs have no implications on the rights of the riparian states of the Mediterranean Sea, and do not affect the maritime boundary delimitation system in the Eastern Mediterranean region,” Hafez continued.

Egypt called upon the international community to face this "negative approach," which coincides with Germany’s efforts to reach a comprehensive peaceful solution for the conflicting parties of Libya.