(Author: Libyan Gazette Editorial Staff)
\
High-level political and military figures in Libya are meeting in Egypt with the hope of finding a solution for the ongoing clashes between political rivals.
Over the past two-days Prime Minister Fayez Serraj of the Government of National Accord (GNA), the UN-backed government, met with Aqilah Saleh, the head of the eastern Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), for talks about the situation in Libya. The purpose of the talks is to “open direct channels of communication after a period of separation,” said Abdullah Bahlek, a spokesperson for the eastern parliament.
It’s was also reported that Saleh will be meeting on Thursday with the Arab League in Cairo.
General Khalifa Haftar, who is supported by the eastern parliament, will also be holding meeting with Serraj’s and Saleh’s deputies. According to Abdel-Basit Bin-Hamel, a Libyan journalist, the talks in Egypt are attempts to figure out who will lead Libya’s national army.
For years, Egypt has backed and aided Haftar by providing him with military support in the form of training for Haftar’s fighters, weapons and other supplies despite the UN’s calls to stop foreign countries from supplying Haftar with arms.
The continued intervention of foreign states such as Egypt, the UAE, and more recently exposed US, Britain and France, particularly through unauthorized and undisclosed military support of armed groups outside of the GNA Libyan Army, such as militias loyal to Haftar, will only further political division and delay any remaining possibility of stability for Libyans.