The United States Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland expressed Washington’s appreciation to Egypt for facilitating the meeting between the Speaker of the Libyan Parliament, Ageela Saleh, and the Head of the High Council of State (HCS), Khaled Al-Mishri.
In a tweet, Norland said that the conclusion of the discussions in Cairo “leaves no reason to postpone setting an early date for Parliamentary and Presidential elections.”
“We share the desire of all Libyans to see Libyan leaders adopt the necessary measures as quickly as possible, allowing HNEC to proceed with setting the electoral process in motion. We express our appreciation to the Government of Egypt for facilitating this important milestone,” he added.
On Thursday, Saleh thanked “Egypt and its political leadership for their great efforts to help Libya overcome its decade-long crisis.”
These remarks came at a press conference held at the Egyptian Parliament, and in the presence of Egyptian House Speaker, Hanafi Gebali and Al-Mishri.
“Egypt has always sided with the interests of Libya and Libyans in order to be able to solve the crises, end foreign intervention in internal affairs, and help the Libyan state restore sovereignty,” Saleh added.
“The brotherly neighbouring state of Egypt has always encouraged Libyans to close ranks and exchange views. Not to mention that it has hosted and sponsored the various meetings and talks to secure a consensus, and find a lasting solution to the internal political divisions which have negatively impacted the lives of the Libyan people,” said Saleh.
In turn, Al-Mishri praised Egypt’s role in hosting the Libyan joint committee’s meetings, “to secure a consensus over constitutional arrangements, paving the way for the long-awaited elections. After we have reached a consensus over the constitutional arrangements, we will declare a new roadmap for elections.”
He added that, “thanks to Egyptian efforts, we were able to surmount many of the obstacles and difficulties and make it much easier for committees to hold several rounds of talks, and finalize a clear-cut constitutional document that can pave the way for drafting election laws.”
According to Al-Mishri, “under Egypt’s sponsorship, all committees were able to both, reach consensus over many of the points of the constitutional document, with the exception of one or two points. As well as agree that election laws would be jointly drafted by both the Libyan Parliament and HCS.”
