The Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi confirmed Tuesday that Libya’s stability is Egypt’s national security, and that “Egypt has not and will not tolerate terrorist groups and their supporters.”
El Sisi made the remarks during his participation at the African Contact Group meeting on Libya at the level of Heads of States and Government via video conferencing, with the participation of the President of the Republic of the Congo and the President of the Group, “Dennis Sassou Nguesso”, the President of South Africa, and representatives of the Presidents of Algeria and Chad, as well as the Chairperson of the Union Commission African Union, the African Union Peace and Security Commissioner, and a representative of the United Nations Secretary-General.
The Egyptian presidential spokesman, Ambassador Bassam Radi, said in a statement that the meeting discussed the latest developments in the Libyan conflict, and ways of coordination and strengthening the joint African effort to resolve it.
In his speech during the meeting, El Sisi reaffirmed, “Egypt’s steadfast stance on the Libyan crisis, which is the necessity of reaching a political solution to the crisis, preserving the sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of Libya, in addition to fully supporting the Libyan people’s will and choices, and rejecting foreign interference in Libyan internal affairs, taking into consideration that the stability of Libya is one of the most important determinants of Egyptian national security.”
El Sisi stressed “the importance of giving anti-terrorism in Libya a special priority by the Africans, as it represents a threat to the stability and security of Libyan neighboring states and the African continent as a whole, stressing that Egypt has not and will not tolerate terrorist groups or the parties that support them under any circumstances.”
He also stressed Egypt’s support for the efforts of the African Union to solve the Libyan crisis, noting the importance of achieving complementarity and consistency between the African, international efforts in Libya, as well as the need for coordination between the African Union and the League of Arab States on efforts to solve the Libyan issue, as it is primarily an Arab-African issue.
According to the spokesman’s statement, the meeting saw consensus on the continuation of the contact group in its efforts to settle the Libyan crisis, in close cooperation with the United Nations and the international community, especially with regard to the implementation of the outputs of the Berlin Conference in this regard to work towards a political solution to the crisis, as well as condemn the continuation of external interference in Libya.
