The Presidents of the United States and Egypt, Donald Trump and Abdelfatá al Sisi, respectively, have called on Monday for a ceasefire and an “immediate de-escalation” in Libya, after the Egyptian Parliament has given the ‘green light’ to a possible Cairo’s military intervention in the neighboring country.
The White House undersecretary of the press, Judd Deere, has indicated through his account on the social network Twitter that “both leaders have affirmed the need for an immediate de-escalation in Libya, including a ceasefire, and progress in the negotiations economic and political. “
Thus, he revealed that during his telephone conversation, Trump “has also reiterated the commitment of the United States to facilitate a fair and equitable agreement between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan” on the dam that Addis Ababa builds on the Blue Nile River.
For his part, the spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency, Basam Rady, has confirmed the conversation and stressed that Al Sisi has defended that Cairo seeks to “restore the pillars of the State, preserve national institutions and prevent further deterioration of the situation in security through illegal foreign interference “in Libya.
The Egyptian Parliament has given Al Sisi this Monday authorization to start a military intervention in Libya in support of the authorities based in the east of the country, confronted with the unity government, based in Tripoli and recognized by the United Nations.
The decision has come “unanimously” after the Egyptian president himself threatened this possibility and the Parliament based in eastern Libya called for direct military intervention by Cairo.
In this regard, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, during the day, called on all international actors to contribute to a peaceful solution to the conflict and called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities.”
Bodganov regretted in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper ‘Al Ahram’ that the previously reached ceasefire agreement “was short-lived” and stressed that Moscow will continue to “press” Ankara to convince the unity government to accept a halt to the fire.
“At the same time, we are working with the Americans, the Europeans and the main countries in the region,” said the Russian deputy foreign minister, as reported by the Sputnik news agency.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on July 8 that Khalifa Haftar, loyal to the authorities settled in eastern Libya, was ready to sign an “immediate” ceasefire, while calling on Turkey to convince the internationally recognized unity government.
However, his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, questioned Haftar’s willingness to accept a ceasefire days later, saying he believed the field marshal is trying to “buy time” after the setbacks he has suffered on the ground during the last months.
Haftar, which has the backing of Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), launched an operation in April 2019 to seize control of Tripoli, the capital and where the unity government led by Fayez Serraj is based.
After the initial advance, the conflict was stalled until Turkey decided to intervene on the side of the Libyan government, reversing the situation and expelling Haftar’s forces. The battle is now around the city of Sirte, the hometown of the late Muammar Gaddafi.
The institutional duplicity in Libya goes back to the 2014 parliamentary elections, which divided the administrations, without those settled in the east – previously recognized by the international community – and the unity government, which emerged from an agreement in 2015, managed to agree on their unification since then.
