FILE: Members of Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar get ready before heading out of Benghazi for advancing to Tripoli, in Benghazi, Libya April 13, 2019. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File
CAIRO – 28 September 2020: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) thanked Egypt for hosting inter-Libyan talks for military and police delegations from the two rivalry parties in eastern and western Libya, which have been held on Monday in Hurghada city, Red Sea.
“UNSMIL extends its deep gratitude to the Egyptian government for making these important talks possible and for its generous hosting of the delegations. We also extend our thanks to the two delegations who have demonstrated a positive and protective attitude aimed at de-escalation of the situation in central Libya,” the mission said in a statement on Monday.
It expected that the face-to-face meetings will be mainstreamed into the 5+5 Joint Military Commission.
The talks, which come within the framework of the (5+5) Joint Military Commission talks, tackled on Monday the ways of forming a joint force from the conflicting parties to carry out missions that would be declared later to build confidence between the two sides for paving a road to resume the political and economic talks on the bases of the outcomes of Berlin Conference and Cairo Declaration, Sky News Arabia reported.
It has been reported that the meeting also tackled the ways of keeping the cease-fire between the National Libyan Army, which led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and the forces of the Tripoli-based National Accord Government, presided by Fayez Al-Saraj. The meetings also reviewed the future of the oil-rich city of Sirte, where the new government would take a headquarters in case the political dialogue between the two parties succussed ahead of the Berlin Conference II on Libya due on October 5.
Egypt is adopting a strategy of opening up to all Libyan parties supporting a political solution, as part of its support for efforts to defuse the crisis in the country.
Egypt earlier announced an initiative, dubbed the Cairo Declaration, which posits a Libyan-Libyan resolution as a basis for resolving the country’s conflict, drawing on earlier international efforts, including the Berlin conference.
On September 22, Egyptian President Sisi addressed several ongoing topics during the speech he gave at the United Nations’ 75th General Assembly which was held virtually due to the current Coronavirus pandemic.
President Sisi said that his country is committed to a political solution for the current crisis in Libya based on the Skhirat agreement, the Berlin conference, and Cairo’s declaration which set a schedule for establishing a consensual government.
It is expected that Cairo will host a massive conference for Inter-Libyan reconciliation in October, with the participation of dozens of Libyan personalities and tribal sheikhs, Youm7 reported Hassan Al-Mabrouk, a member of the preparatory committee for the Libyan national reconciliation conference on Saturday.
Mabrouk called upon the Libyan parties, the international community to solve the Libyan issue, preserve the unity and sovereignty of Libya and foreign interference, get rid of mercenaries, and to dissolve militias and disarm them.
Additional reporting by Walaa Ali
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