On Wednesday, the Commander of the US Africa Command, Stephen Townsend, held a meeting with the US Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, during his visit to Tunisia. They discussed recent political and security developments in Libya.
During the meeting, the duo held a video call with the newly appointed Libyan Minister of Defence, Salah Eddine Al-Namrush. They reiterated US support for continued intra-Libyan dialogue, under the auspices of the UN. They also conveyed support for Libya’s counterterrorism efforts, security sector reform, calls for a lasting ceasefire, de-escalation of forces in central Libya, and the departure of all foreign military forces from the country.
Libya’s two rival legislative bodies, the High Council of State, based in Tripoli, and the eastern-based Parliament, began political dialogue sessions in Morocco on Sunday.
This dialogue in Bouznika city, aims to maintain the ceasefire and open negotiations to resolve the differences between the parties. This meeting comes weeks after separate visits, by the President of the High Council of State, Khalid Al-Mishri, and Speaker of the Parliament, Ageela Saleh to Morocco.
In 2015, Morocco hosted UN-brokered peace talks, between Libya’s warring parties that led to the Libyan Political Agreement. The North African country has remained divided between authorities in the east and west after this agreement.