Politics-Libya rejects planned meeting of executive council of Arab League

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan minister of foreign affairs of the government of national accord (GNA), Mohamed Taher Siala, Friday rejected an emergency meeting by Egypt on Libya for the executive council of the Arab League through videoconferencing next week, an official source said here.

Siala made his position known during talks on the phone with the person in charge of foreign affairs at the Oman Sultanate, and chairman of the executive committee of the League of Arab States for the current session.

Their discussion centred on current developments in Libya, as well as a note submitted by Libya "which rejects the convening by Egypt to host the emergency meeting of the Council of Arab League through videoconferencing next week", according to a statement issued by the Libyan foreign affairs ministry.

Siala said "Libya's refusal is linked to the non-respect of the procedures and rules in force during the meeting until reaching the expected goal, and in addition to the consultation of Libya as country concerned by the meeting, which was not the case".

He said the videoconferencing "is not appropriate to discuss the thorny issues that need discussions and interesting debates".

The minister said that "neglecting all this leads to the enlargement of the gap and division, and will not help achieve the common Arab action".

Earlier Friday, the deputy Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ambassador Houssam Zaki, said Egypt had informed the general secretariat about the meeting of the Council of Arab League by foreign affairs ministers to discuss the situation in Libya.

Zaki said coordination was presently underway with the Oman Sultanate, which presides over the ongoing session, to determine the date for the meeting.

-0-      PANA      BY/IS/MSA/RA   19Jun2020