CAIRO — Libyan Foreign Minister Fathi Bashagha with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) rejected on Aug. 23 in an interview with the German News Agency the Egyptian regime's support for the Libyan National Army (LNA), which is led by Field Marshall Khalifa Hifter.

A crisis erupted between the GNA and the ruling regime in Egypt after the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Aug. 13 in which it called on the UN Support Mission in Libya to cooperate with the Libyan parliament to find a solution to the current crisis.

The statement called for the fair and transparent distribution of resources in Libya and the disbanding of armed militias, which drew the ire of the GNA and prompted its Foreign Ministry to accuse Egypt in an Aug. 15 statement of meddling in Libya's internal affairs.

The ministry condemned the fact that its Egyptian counterpart called on the UN Support Mission in Libya to “engage more closely with the elected representatives of the Libyan people,” and said this “neglects the bodies that emanated from the Skhirat Agreement.”