Egyptian FM calls for dialogue as key to Libyan solution

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with deputy-chief of Libyan Presidential Council (PC) Fathi al-Majburi here on Thursday, highlighting dialogue and agreement among Libyan parties as key to unity of the conflict-stricken country, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Ahmed Abu Zeid, the ministry’s spokesman, said that the ministry attaches great interest to supporting accord between the Libyan parties, and the implementation of Skhirat agreement while maintaining the ongoing constitutional Libyan institutions.
Majburi appreciated Egypt’s support in enhancing peace and stability in Libya and working with Libyan officials “for the best interest of the Libyan people.”
After the ouster and killing of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libyan factions engaged in a state of civil war that escalated in 2014 and resulted in splitting power between two rival governments in Tripoli and Tubruk, with the latter having been recognized by the international community before the PC established in late 2015.
The PC was formed as a unity government following a UN-brokered peace deal between warring Libyan factions reached in Skhirat, Morocco.
The state of civil war in Libya was sparked after Gaddafi’s fall by the western intervention via a no-fly zone, bombings and their military support to the anti-Gaddafi rebel forces.
In late July, Egypt hosted high-profile talks between head of Libya’s UN-brokered unity government Fayez Serraj and head of the Libyan parliament Aqila Saleh in an attempt to resolve the political deadlock in Libya.