President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has underlined the importance of lifting the weapons ban imposed on Libya’s government, Egypt’s presidency said Saturday.
“The president also stressed the importance of supporting the Libyan national military and police in their fight against terrorism as he praised the newly formed government after a deal signed by Libyan fractions earlier this month,” the statement read following El-Sisi’s meeting with Fayez Al-Sarraj, prime minster designate for the Libyan national unity government.
On 17 December, rival Libyan fractions signed a UN-sponsored deal on a unity government in the Moroccan resort of Skhirat.
Officially, Egypt had supported the internationally-recognised government based in Tobruk in eastern Libya, while another government, based in the capital Tripoli, was formed and dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.
In August, General Khalifa Hiftar, military chief of Libya’s internationally recognised government, said that he was promised help from the Arab League for a “proper attack” on Islamic State (IS) extremists in the city of Sirte, but that the effort failed because of a lack of weapons.
Egypt has increased security along its 1,000 kilometre (600 mile) long border with Libya, where the Islamic State group made inroads by exploiting a security vacuum as two governments fought each other.
In February, IS released a chilling video showing the clinical execution of 21 Egyptians, beheaded on a Libyan beach. Egypt reacted by swiftly launching airstrikes on IS strongholds in Libya.
El-Sisi blamed “the international community” for the Libyan crisis and the spread of terrorism there in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September.
In 2011, a NATO force drawn from member states intervened militarily in Libya, leading to the collapse of the Gaddafi regime.
Source: Ahram Online
