Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni said Wednesday there is no national dialogue with any group that rejects the legitimacy of the Parliament and government.
“Any Libyan faction that agrees on the people’s will could be involved in the dialogue , but as for the factions tried to steal the power, there is no dialogue with terrorist groups,” he said during a press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Ibrahim Mahlab in Cairo.
Thinni said Libya’s interim government did not receive any invitation from Algeria, which was reported to host a meeting on Libyan national dialogue on Oct. 15; “Egypt is the only broker of the national dialogue file… But if there is preparation for holding a conference on the dialogue without the notifying the government, it is weird thing,” He added
Thinni’s visit is the first paid by the interim government that won a confidence vote from the Libyan House of Representatives Sep. 22. The interim government established its headquarters in the city of Tobruk, and left Tripoli due to its deteriorating security situation.
The visit aims to boost economic cooperation with Egypt, protecting mutual borders, and means for training the Libyan army and police by Egyptian counterparts, Thinni noted.
“We face terrorism… it spreads in the region. Such terrorism should be faced by a force which needs to prepare and train the figures,” he said.
“We came to ask for Egypt’s help politically in situations that serve the Libya and Arabs; Egypt’s security is Libya’s, and vice versa. There will be meetings between the Egyptian ministers in many fields with their Libyan counterparts in the few coming days,” he continued.
Thinni said that militant groups have systemically destroyed much of Tripoli, including the airport.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mahlab reaffirmed his country’s support to the Libyan government and parliament in Tobruk, saying “We stand beside the Libyan peoples’ choice, so we offer our urgent support to its needs.”
On Aug. 24, Cairo hosted a conference with Libya’s neighboring countries (Tunisia, Sudan, Algeria, Chad and Niger) to find a solution for the Libyan security crisis. The outcome of the meeting called for collecting arms and weapons from Libyan militias, reaching a cease-fire agreement between conflicting groups, drafting a new constitution, and conducting inclusive dialogue on recognition of the legitimacy of the new Libyan Parliament.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi ordered to send doctors and physicians to follow up the situations in Tobruk hospitals, Mahlab said, adding there would be trade exchange in the public utilities sector and support of the Libyan people by operating the stopped utilities.
Regarding Egyptian laborers in Libya, Mahlab said the issue was discussed and there is coordination also to resume halted Egyptian projects and that Egyptian laborers would participate in Libya’s reconstruction.
60 Egyptian trucks and their drivers who were kidnapped by armed militants in Ajdabia city in Libya were released Tuesday, MENA quoted Gamal Own, the chief of drivers in Egypt’s Kafr al-Zayat city Tuesday morning.
