Head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service conveys Sisi’s message of support to Libyan people
Ahram Online, Saturday 19 Dec 2020
Egypt supports all tracks of a comprehensive settlement of the Libyan crisis in coordination with the United Nations and the international community, Kamel said


The head of Egypt's General Intelligence Service (GIS) Abbas Kamel conveyed during his visit on Saturday to the Libyan city of Benghazi a message of support from President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to the Libyan people on various military and political levels, a statement by GIS said.



According to the statement, this came within the framework of the Egyptian role in support of stabilising the situation in Libya and preserving its capabilities and gains.



During his visit, Kamel had a meeting with the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar in which a number of issues of concern were discussed.



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In Kamel and Haftar’s meeting, the statement said, emphasis was placed on the Egyptian efforts and moves in support of the outcomes of the 5+5 Military Commission meetings, which resulted in delaying the ceasefire and taking a number of measures that have contributed to stabilising the military and security situation throughout Libya.



The 5+5 Joint Military Commission, which brings together five military officials from the eastern and western camps in the Libyan conflict, is one of the three tracks of the settlement process that emerged during the Berlin Conference on Libya in mid-January. It was subsequently adopted by the UN Security Council.



Moreover, Kamel met with the head of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh along with a number of MPs, where he emphasised that Egypt “supports all tracks of a comprehensive settlement of the Libyan crisis” in coordination with the United Nations (UN) and the international community.



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The head of Egypt’s GIS also discussed the latest developments in the political situation, as well as ways to advance and develop Egyptian-Libyan relations at all levels during the coming period, the statement noted.



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.

Two weeks earlier, 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.



On 23 September during his meeting with Haftar and Saleh in Cairo, El-Sisi reaffirmed Egypt's steadfast stance in supporting the political solution to the Libyan crisis, away from foreign interference, and welcoming any positive steps that lead to peace, construction and development.



Earlier in June, Egypt proposed a peace initiative dubbed the “Cairo Declaration”, which is based on the conclusions of the Berlin conference. It proposed a ceasefire, the election of a leadership council, and also called for the withdrawal of foreign troops in Libya.



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