On Wednesday, regional Spokesman for the US State Department, Samuel Warburg said that the US fully agrees with Egypt regarding the need for the withdrawal of mercenaries from Libya, and for the upcoming elections to be held on time.
In remarks to Egypt’s Al-Haya TV, Warburg said Egypt and the US agree on the need to support the Libyan people.
This comes following Monday’s Egypt-US strategic dialogue held in Washington. This included Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry and US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
The two FM’s called for holding Libya’s elections, as scheduled, on 24 December and agreed on backing the Action Plan of Libya’s 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) regarding the exit of all foreign forces, fighters, and mercenaries from Libya.
Notably, Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi affirmed Egypt’s full support for the political track aimed at settling the Libyan crisis in all bilateral, regional, and international forums.
During a telephone conversation with the Head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Mnifi, President El-Sisi expressed Cairo’s keenness to strengthen coordination with Libya to ensure the unification of all state institutions.
The President stressed the importance of holding the Presidential and Parliamentary elections as scheduled, based on the laws approved by the Libyan Parliament.
He also emphasised Egypt’s full support for the efforts to withdraw all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya. As well as maintaining the supreme interest of the Libyan state, and ending all forms of foreign interference in its internal affairs.
El-Sisi asserted that the elections, scheduled to be held on 24 December, “represent an important and landmark step for Libya’s transition to a new reality and a sustainable political system based on the free will of the Libyan people,” according to a statement issued by the Egyptian presidency.