
Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in his meeting on Saturday with Acting UN envoy to Libya Stephanie Koury in Cairo. Photo : Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
Moreover, Abdelatty stressed the importance of withdrawing all foreign forces, fighters, and mercenaries from Libya within a specified timeframe to ensure the country’s unity, sovereignty, and stability.
In a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdelatty also expressed Cairo's hope to enhance cooperation with the UN envoy to support her mission's success and contribute to resolving the Libyan crisis with full Libyan ownership and leadership.
Egypt attributes the lack of settlement in Libya to the crisis in executive authority and the absence of a “unified government.”
It reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the formation of a unified executive authority to enable presidential and parliamentary elections.
Anticipation is growing in Libya regarding the future of the expected unified government, especially after the House of Representatives received a list of nine potential candidates for its leadership early in December 2024.
In a post on X commenting on the meeting, Koury expressed her appreciation for Egypt's efforts to solve the Libyan crisis.
“We agreed on the need to build consensus among Libyans and move towards holding national elections,” Koury said.
She added that, during the meeting, they stressed the need to unite state institutions and enhance security and economic stability.
“Cairo closely monitors regional developments, consults with its friends and partners, and is committed to preserving its strong, historic relations with eastern, western, and southern Libya,” said Tamim Khallaf, the Egyptian foreign ministry’s spokesperson, in an interview with Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper on Saturday.
Libya continues to struggle with the aftermath of the years of war and instability following the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
The oil-rich nation remains divided, with a UN-recognized government in Tripoli and a rival administration in the east. Furthermore, periodic clashes between armed groups persist.
Since the December 2021 elections were cancelled at the last minute due to disagreements between rival factions, Libyan officials have struggled to resolve key issues necessary to proceed with the critical legislative process.
Previous initiatives to solve political crisis
In August 2024, the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) voted unanimously to end the term of the Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Abdul-Hamid Dbeibeh in Tripoli.
The HoR recognized Osama Hamad's Government of National Stability (GNS) as legitimate until a unified administration can be chosen.
However, Dbeibeh's refusal to transfer power has intensified the country's political crisis, escalating tensions.
Various initiatives have been introduced to address the political crisis, including the 5+5 Commission formed in 2020 to oversee the withdrawal of foreign fighters.
Additionally, after the first Berlin conference in 2020, calls were made to establish an interim authority, end foreign intervention, and promote a political settlement.
In March 2021, the 12-member 6+6 Committee was established. It included equal legislative representation from the parliament and the High Council of State (HCS) to address key political issues like laws and frameworks to facilitate elections.
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