By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis, 29 July 2017:
Presidency Council (PC) chief Faiez Serraj’s Paris meeting with Khalifa Hafter earnt him the congratulations of his Algerian opposite number when he visited Algiers today. Abdelmadjid Tebboune told Serraj that the agreement on a ceasefire and early elections was a positive step on the way to political reconciliation.
When he flew into the Algerian capital’s Houari Boumediene airport, Serraj told reporters that this was to be one of the regular consultative meetings. However, given his agreement with Hafter brokered in Paris by French president Emmanuel Macron, Serraj is likely to have been seeking from the Algerians a better understanding of French priorities in North Africa and their way of operating.
Algeria, with Tunisia and Egypt, is still active within the Troika seeking to push Libyan rivals into talks. If Tunisian claims to have played some role in setting up the Serraj-Hafter Paris encounter are correct, it would seem more than likely that Algeria was also involved.
Its foreign minister, Abdelkader Messahel, who earlier this year completed a country-wide tour meeting most Libyan political players, sat in on today’s meeting along with his Libyan counterpart, Mohamed Siala.
