The leaders of south Libya stressed during a meeting with Egyptian officials their rejection to foreign interferences aiming to undermine Libya’s security, a closing statement read on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the Libyan delegation praised Cairo’s continued efforts to bring together Libyan parties, especially amid difficult circumstances in Libya.
“We welcome Egypt’s role in converging viewpoints between the parties constituting the Libyan state and in its openness towards them to resolve the crisis impartially,” the statement read.
The delegation stressed on the necessity of the unity and territorial integrity of their country through a comprehensive Libyan-Libyan delegation clear of intervention by any foreign parties.
An Egyptian consulate will open south of Libya to facilitate services for citizens of both countries, the statement read, mulling the possibility of operating flights between the south’s Sabha Airport and Egyptian airports.
The statement comes days after the delegation landed in Cairo for talks with several Egyptian officials on the Libyan crisis and means to resolve it politically, in light of Egypt’s role in supporting the security and sovereignty of the Libyan state.
The delegation comprises tens of prominent figures and aldermen from southern cities in the Fezzan province, representing all social stratas in the Libyan south. Libya has been split since 2014 between two rival administrations: the LNA - led by Haftar - in the east, and the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) in the west, headed by its premier Fayez Al-Sarraj.
Egypt has been pushing for a political settlement in Libya and calling for a ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of militias, an end to foreign intervention in the country, as well as the fair distribution of wealth.
In October, continuing its efforts to advance peace in Libya, Cairo played host to rival Libyan factions -- bringing together delegations from the Tobruk-based Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) and the Tripoli based High Council of State (HCS) -- as they discussed the constitutional components of the political track. In September, Egypt hosted Libyan peace talks in the framework of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission in the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada.
The efforts pushed by Cairo come months after it proposed a peace initiative dubbed the “Cairo Declaration”, which called for an immediate ceasefire, the election of a leadership council, and the withdrawal of foreign troops in Libya.
