CAIRO (AP) – Egypt’s president met on Tuesday with a Libyan parliamentary speaker and commander-in-chief as Cairo pushed for the withdrawal of troops and the holding of elections in December.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi received Speaker Aguila Saleh and General Khalifa Hifter, the commander-in-chief of Libyan militants known as Cairo, the Egyptian prime minister’s office said.
El-Sissi said his government would continue to work “with all the Libyan brothers … to make the necessary presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of this year.”
He also called for the recruitment of foreign workers and laborers to be released from the oil-rich country.
Saleh and Hifter, whose armies cover most of eastern and southern Libya and oil fields, are closely allied with Egypt. In recent months, the el-Sissi government has also assisted western Libyan authorities, apparently to overthrow Turkish power there.
Libya has been embroiled in controversy since the NATO-led coup overthrew longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 and divided the oil-rich country between rival governments, each aided by military and foreign powers.
In April 2019, Hifter’s troops, with the help of Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, did a disservice to try to capture Tripoli. His 14-month career came to an end after Turkey and Qatar stepped up their military assistance to the Tripoli-based government with hundreds of Turkish troops and several Syrian troops.
UN-sponsored peace talks led to the suspension last October and formed a caretaker government that is expected to lead the country in the December elections. The fire brigade also demanded that foreign fighters and workers be hired within three months, the last day of which did not take place.
The UN says there are 20,000 foreign troops and managers, mainly in Syria, Turkey, Russia and Sudan, in North Africa. The presence of foreign fighters and militias is a major problem in maintaining the planned vote.
Libyan lawmakers have failed to finalize the voting process, making elections more uncertain.
As a result of international pressure, parliament earlier this month introduced a presidential election law and is said to be in the process of implementing parliamentary elections, according to a UN envoy to Libya.
However, the High Council of the State, which oversees certain electoral laws, complained that the law was enacted without consulting its members, which could confuse the map.