Libyan MPs meet in Cairo to find solution to the Libyan crisis
Tripoli Libya (PANA) – Some 90 Members of Parliament (MPs) out of the 200-member Assembly of the Representatives of the Libyan people (Parliament) met on Saturday in Cairo within the framework of the Egyptian efforts for the search for solutions to the rising political, military, security, economic and social crisis that broke out in Libya since 2011.
Saturday’s meeting is the second meeting held by Libyan MPs in the Egyptian capital on the invitation of their Egyptian counterparts to carry out consultations on the political crisis in Libya and the future of the situation in that North Africa countries, said organisers.
Several Libyan MPs boycotted the meeting, particularly those opposed to the military campaign launched since 4 April by Marshall Khalifa Haftar, chief commander of the Libyan National Army, to take control of Tripoli.
The Libyan government of national accord, recognized by the international community, accuses Egypt of ‘’not adopting a neutral position between the parties in conflict and of providing the forces of Marshall Haftar with weapons and supporting it in logistic and intelligence’’, while the boycotting Members of Parliament deplore ‘’the lack of clarity of the nature of the consultation sessions held in Cairo".
The dissident Tripoli national assembly announced its refusal to take part in the Cairo meeting because, according to the institution, of ‘’Egypt’s interference in the Libyan home affairs and Cairo’s support for one party for the detriment of the other in the Libyan conflict".
Egyptian president, Abel Fattah Al-Sissi, had in June received the Speaker of the Assembly of the Representatives of the Libyan people, Aguila Salah, to examine with him the latest developments of the Libyan conflict, according to the Egyptian presidency.
The spokesperson for the Egyptian presidency, Bessam Radhi, had announced that president Sissi reaffirmed his country’s support for president Salah and the Libyan Parliament he considered as "source of effective legitimacy and legality in Libya".
The Egyptian spokesperson had insisted on the support from president Sissi for ‘’Asembly of the Representatives of the Libyan people in his campaign to eradicate the terrorist groups and organisations’’.
The MPs meeting in Cairo issued a communiqué to reaffirm that ‘’the conditions prevailing in Libya made their job difficult, particularly with the increase in the pressure exerted to take control of Tripoli and attempts made to divide it in order to make it fail in a context of several foreign interference in the Libyan home affairs, which further complicated the political situation in the country".
The MPs announced the establishment of a commission to carry on the contact with the UN Support Mission in Libya in a bid to prepare for a session of the Assembly of the People in the Libyan city of Gatt or another city so as to negotiate the formation of national unity government.
They praised all international efforts to find solution to the Libyan crisis, reaffirming at the same time their rejection of the search for solutions without passing through the parliamentary power or the attempt to find solutions based on other criteria like appealing to the factions without qualifications whom they were not identified but who cannot represent the Libyan people.
They estimated that "any attempt to lead the judicial power towards the political aspect of the Libyan crisis is a dangerous act which threatens the stability of the parliamentary institution and its credibility while causing flagrant violation of power separation".
The request of the Egyptian president before the General Assembly of the United Nations in September ‘’for fairer sharing of Libya’s riches aggravated the disagreement between Tripoli and Cairo and caused hostile reactions from the officials of the Libyan government of national accord who considered the intervention as interference in the Libyan home affairs".
The chairman of the Libyan presidential council of the government accord, Fayez Sarraj, responding to the declaration of president Sissi, said before the same audience that ‘’we don’t appreciate the Egyptian interference in our home affairs and the lessons it gives to the Libyans on democracy and the civilian state, on the economy and how to share the riches".
However, the MPs who attended the meeting expressed the solidarity of all parliamentarians to MP Siham Sergewa, abducted by gunmen in Benghazi and her family as well as all those abducted by force, calling the security services of the country to intensify the efforts for their release and to bring before courts the perpetrators of such crimes.
The fate of the MP whom gunmen attacked in her residence in June is still unknown.
In her last declaration, Mrs Sergewa, after taking part in a parliamentary session in Cairo, granted the pro-Haftar channel "Hadeth", describing the Haftar MPs as ‘’extremists’’ and rejected the military power while supporting the establishment of a civilian and democratic government in Libya.
At that time, she called on MPs to hold a large meeting for national reconciliation and for transitional justice in a bid to restore peace and national concord between all components of the Libyan society.
-0- PANA AD/IN/TBM/MSA/VAO 20Oct2019
