Libya’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj holds French-brokered talks Tuesday with Khalifa Haftar, the rival military commander who controls the east, to try to end the chaos in the conflict-ridden country.
French President Emmanuel Macron has organised the talks but his office has stressed that it has modest expectations of the meeting to be held in a chateau just outside Paris.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met today with General Jospeh L. Votel, commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) to discuss bilateral relations, especially military cooperation, according to a press release by Egyptian presidency.
The commander of the US Central Command is visiting Cairo to hold meetings with senior Egyptian officials to discuss a number of issues related to regional security.
The EU Naval Operation Sophia started this week the training of the Libyan Navy Coast Guard and Libyan Navy and the implementation of the UN arms embargo on the high seas off the coast of Libya.
An EU statement Thursday noted that the naval operation aimed at disrupting the business model of human smugglers and traffickers in the Southern Central Mediterranean.
Security, fight against terrorism and the situation in the Arab world will be on the agenda of the 13th meeting, Friday in Marseille, of the Foreign Affairs Minister of 5+5 Dialogue on the western Mediterranean.
This meeting of the western Mediterranean’s countries will bring together, in addition to Algeria, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia.
Algerian Minister for Maghreb Affairs, the African Union and the Arab League, Abdelkader Messahel and visiting Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ignacio Ybanez, vowed on Monday to boost bilateral cooperation in the political, security and economic fields.
The US President, Barak Obama underscored that the USA is making efforts to strengthen consensus among Libyan parties. He also stressed the need to control territorial waters and borders to undermine illegal immigration.
At a joint press conference with the Italian prime Minister Tuesday in Washington, he said; We are focused on enhancing government agreements, and Secretary of State Kerry and others work with his EU colleagues to support the government in Libya, to address problems between the various factions in Libya, and to build their capacities to control their borders and territorial waters, and that if there is no partner it would be a problem.
The chief of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), Mongi Hamdi called to stand in the way of the parties seeking to “impede the implementation of the peace agreement in Mali, stressing the need “to continue efforts and consultations within the framework of the Peace Agreement Implementation Monitoring Committee.”
Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs Taieb Baccouche met, Wednesday in Tunis, his Libyan counterpart Mohamed Dairi.
The meeting focused on the Inter-Libyan dialogue session scheduled for August 27 and 28 in the city of Skhirat, Morocco under the umbrella of the United Nations mission in Libya.
Libya’s foreign minister Tuesday renewed a call for the lifting of an arms embargo and for international airstrikes to help tackle ISIS, which threatens to create a “rear base” in the country.
“The situation is extremely serious,” Mohammad al-Dayri, foreign minister for Libya’s internationally recognized government based in Misrata, said on a visit to Paris. “People are dying, are crucified, are disinterred from their graves, are burned alive. Libyans don’t understand why the international community doesn’t wake up to these dangers.”
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his French Counterpart Francois Hollande agreed to cooperate in efforts to counter terrorism, resolve the Palestinian situation and support the current Iraqi government.
In a joint press conference held in Paris, Al-Sisi noted his discussions with Hollande were “fruitful” and reflected unified opinions regarding bilateral, regional and international relations.