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By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 14 November 2014:
Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti has confirmed that the Sudan-sponsored meeting of Libya’s neighbours to . . .[restrict]find a solution to the country’s crisis will be held in Khartoum on 4 December.
Sudan has extended invitations to the foreign ministers of Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Niger and Chad for the meeting. The Arab League Secretary General, Arab League envoy for Libya and African Union representative in Libya have also been invited.
This will be the fifth meeting of Libya’s neighbours since conflict began in May. The last meeting was held in Egypt in August. At that meeting the foreign ministers agreed that dialogue had to be pursued as the only viable option for a solution.
The fourth meeting also resulted in a stated goal of disarming the militias, an option that has not occurred so far. Furthermore, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, chairing the meeting, proposed the formation of two groups: one group, headed by Egypt, would deal with the political aspects of the crisis, while the other, headed by Algeria, would address the security and military issues.
Since then, there has seen to be a rivalry between Algeria and Egypt but have both attempted to bring together various players in the Libyan conflict. In September, Algeria announced plans to host a dialogue between Libya’s warring factions in October, but that meeting never happened.
Shoukri hosted Libyan tribal members in Egypt last month. The meeting was seen as both an attempt to end difficulties for Egyptian truck drivers travelling to Libya but also a bid by Cairo to take a more detailed role in ending Libya’s ongoing crisis.
The perceived rivalry may now be reducing. In a joint statement yesterday by Algerian Prime Minister Abedemalek Sellal and Egyptian Premier Ibrahim Mahleb, following the seventh Algerian-Egyptian High Joint Commission, the two claimed a “complete convergence of views” regarding working together to preserve the unity of Libya and restore security in the country.
Karti, for his part, has stated publicly that he has hopes that the upcoming meeting in Khartoum will be a new step towards stability and security in Libya.
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