On Saturday, the United States welcomed Egypt’s new initiative for Libya and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s call for a ceasefire in the country.
In a statement, the US said: “We welcome efforts by Egypt and others to support a return to the UN-led political negotiations and the declaration of a ceasefire, calling on all Libyan sides to participate in good faith to halt the fighting and return to the UN-led political negotiations.”
On Saturday, French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian also praised Egypt’s efforts over the Libyan file. He welcomed the so-called “Cairo initiative”, which aims to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Libya and complete the work of the 5+5 Military Commission Talks in Geneva.
President al-Sisi announced the Cairo initiative following talks in Cairo on Saturday with the Libyan National Army (LNA) Commander Khalifa Haftar and Libyan Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh.
The “Cairo Declaration”, the Egyptian initiative announced by Sisi, seeks to reach a ceasefire between warring Libyan parties starting from June 8.
It hopes to lead to the UN-supervised election of a Libyan presidential council and the drafting of a constitutional declaration to regulate elections for a later stage, al-Sisi explained in a joint press conference.