President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met the Tunisian presidential office deputy Reda Belhaj, announced Egyptian presidential spokesperson Alaa Youssef Wednesday.
The meeting tackled the Libyan security crisis and the necessity to coordinate with Libya’s neighboring countries.
Tunisia has helped Egypt evacuate its citizens from Libya through the Tunisia air and maritime ports since September 2014; a total of 11,500 Egyptians had been evacuated from Libya via an air bridge established by Egypt and Tunisia, according to statistics announced by the Egyptian Minister of Aviation Hossam Kamal as of last August.
However, the evacuation process was renewed for Egyptians following video footage released by the Islamic State branch in Libya showed the beheading of 20 Egyptian Christians in February. Cairo responded to the murders by launching airstrikes against IS group hotbeds in Libya, and encouraged its citizens still there to return.
Sisi’s meeting also came after talks were held between him and the Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom on the issue of evacuating Ethiopian citizens from Libya following the releasing of a video showed 30 Ethiopian Christians shot dead and beheaded by a branch of the Islamic State group in April.
