Egypt calls emergency Arab League meeting on Libya
The meeting is expected to be held next week to discuss recent developments in the Libyan conflict.
Egypt has called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League to discuss recent developments in Libya’s civil war. The meeting is expected to be held next week, the league’s assistant secretary-general, Hossam Zaki, said today.
The call comes as rogue Libyan general Khalifa Hifter — who is backed by Cairo, the United Arab Emirates and Russia — faces the worst setback yet in his campaign to take over the country.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi put forth a cease-fire proposal and called for intra-Libyan dialogue toward a political solution to the conflict earlier this month. The proposal came after Sisi met with Hifter and eastern Libya’s parliament speaker, Aguila Saleh Issa.
That meeting followed a surprise breakout by Tripoli’s forces that forced Hifter’s militias out of the country’s west, ending his Libyan National Army’s 14-month offensive. Hifter has expressed openness to a cease-fire, but the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord has so far shown little sign of willingness to negotiate, pressing its counteroffensive toward the strategic coastal city of Sirte.
