On Thursday, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken held a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.
During the call, Blinken expressed his “appreciation for Egypt’s great efforts in supporting the constitutional track through its co-presidency of the economic working group, emanating from the Berlin process in partnership with the United States and the European Union.”
He also hoped that Egypt would “continue to play this important role until the full settlement of the Libyan crisis.”
In turn, Shoukry stressed the necessity of holding Parliamentary and Presidential elections in Libya as soon as possible.
During the call, he briefed Blinken on Egypt’s efforts to converge the viewpoints of the Libyan parties. As well as the ongoing consultations about the constitutional framework needed for holding the elections.
Notably, Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi gave a speech at the 31st Arab League summit in Algiers. He underscored the importance of Arab unity in facing challenges ranging from the Libyan crisis, to water security and climate change.
Addressing Arab leaders, El-Sisi said that Egypt is “exerting efforts to ensure that a political settlement in Libya is reached as soon as possible, and without the interference of foreign agendas.”
He affirmed Cairo’s “firm stance that all foreign forces and mercenaries must withdraw from the country within a specified timeframe.” As well as that “all Libyan institutions should be reunified, and that the armed militias should be dissolved in a manner that prevents the renewal of military confrontations and restores the country’s unity, sovereignty, and stability.”
“This solution shall be under pure Libyan leadership and ownership, without any foreign dictation,” he noted. The Egyptian President stressed the need to “hold simultaneous Presidential and Parliamentary elections, and respect the Libyan people’s will to live in a stable country.”
“We still need more collective Arab action, even in addressing the crises in Libya, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, and Sudan, or else the security and peace of those countries’ peoples will be threatened with the renewal of the scourge of these crises,” he added.
The current stalemate in Libya grew out of the failure to hold elections in December 2021, and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba to step down. In response, the country’s eastern-based Parliament appointed a rival Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha who has for months sought to install his government in Tripoli.
Tensions have been rising for months in Libya as the two Prime Ministers vie for power; rising fears of renewed conflict two years after a landmark truce.