Egypt welcomes joint Libyan statement signed in Benghazi

Egypt on Sunday welcomed a joint statement issued the previous day in the eastern city of Benghazi by three Libyan leaders.

Mohammed Al-Menfi, president of the Libyan Presidential Council; Aguila Saleh, speaker of the House of Representatives; and Khalifa Haftar, commander-in-chief of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, put their names to the document.

Egypt appreciated the statement’s emphasis on national ownership of any Libyan political track and national dialogue.

It welcomed the leaders’ support for the House of Representatives exercising its powers to take all measures to ensure the adoption of electoral laws referred to it by Libya’s 6+6 Committee after completing its work.

The committee is a group drawn from two legislative chambers that have proposed new electoral laws.

Egypt welcomed the call on the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya not to take any unilateral steps in connection with the political track.

It also stressed the importance of calling on the president of the Presidential Council for a meeting that included the presidencies of the House of Representatives and the High Council of State for consultations with the aim of completing the national political track, in order to achieve the largest amount of consensus for the purpose of implementing electoral laws.

According to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt “renewed its full support for the Libyan state institutions as they carry out their tasks in order to fulfill all the necessary frameworks for the simultaneous holding of presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya as soon as possible.”

It called on all international parties to support these purely national efforts out of concern for Libya’s stability and sovereignty.

Al-Menfi, Saleh and Haftar met on Saturday as part of discussions and consultations on developments. A joint statement after their meeting affirmed Libya’s national ownership of any political action and national dialogue.

While the participants appreciated the role of Abdoulaye Bathily, head of UNSMIL, he was called upon not to take any unilateral steps on the political track.

Libya is still witnessing a political crisis in light of the presence of two governments in the country — one in the east mandated by parliament and the other in the west emanating from political agreements sponsored by the UN.

One is the Government of National Unity headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Tripoli, which has refused to step down prior to elections.

The issues of armed groups, militias and foreign and mercenary interventions are still raising concern in Libya.