File photo: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (File Photo: AP)
The Skhirat agreement is the “ideal solution” to the Libyan crisis and would guarantee active participation of all Libyan factions to end the current crisis, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Saturday at a Cairo conference on Libya.
The Skhirat agreement, which was signed in Morocco in 2015, mandates the reaching of a peaceful transition of power in Libya and the establishment of a national unity government.
MENA reported Shoukry as saying, during his opening speech at the conference of countries neighbouring Libya, that Egypt is committed to upholding Libya’s sovereignty, supporting its legitimate institutions and rejecting foreign interference in the crisis.
This is the tenth meeting of the group of countries, which include Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Niger, Chad, as well as United Nations envoy, Martin Kobler and a representative of the African Union.
There are currently five proposed amendments to the agreement, including a change in the makeup of the Libyan national dialogue committee to better balance the country's factions, a change in the duties of the army commander, and measures to maintain the independence of the armed forces and separate them from political conflicts.
Egypt has been playing an active role in seeking to find a solution to the civil war in Libya.
On Friday, Egyptian Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Mahmoud Hegazy met with Libya's General Khalifa Haftar in Cairo to discuss latest developments in the conflict-hit country.
Last week, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with the chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council, Fayaz Al-Sarraj, in Cairo.
Libya currently has two parliaments and two rival governments, which have effectively divided the country into east and west.
The parliament and interim government in the eastern part of the country are refusing to endorse the UN-backed administration in Tripoli in the west, a prerequisite for the Tripoli camp to take sovereign control of the country.
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