Egyptian president meets Libyan house speaker, warlord Khalifa Haftar in Cairo

ISTANBUL 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday met with the speaker of the Tobruk-based Libyan House of Representatives and putschist Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar.

A statement by the Egyptian Presidency said that al-Sisi received both Aguila Saleh and Haftar in Cairo in the presence of Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s intelligence chief.

In a later statement published by the country's official MENA news agency, the presidency said that the meeting discussed "the latest developments in the Libyan arena ... and reviewed prospects for cooperation and coordination between the two countries during the coming period at all levels."

For his part, al-Sisi affirmed that "Egypt will continue its efforts to coordinate with all Libyan brothers during the coming period, in a way that contributes to ensuring the unity and cohesion of Libyan national institutions."

Al-Sisi also stressed the significance of "achieving the important parliamentary and presidential elections, expected by the end of this year, and preventing foreign interference."

For their part, Saleh and Haftar affirmed "the consistency of their positions with the Egyptian perspective on managing the Libyan transitional phase, especially in the need to ensure that presidential and parliamentary elections are held before the end of this year," according to the Egyptian statement.

In recent months, relations between the North African neighbors improved following Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly’s visit to the Libyan capital Tripoli on April 20, when Egypt expressed support for Libya’s new national unity government.

This February, Libya's rival political groups agreed to form an interim unity government to lead the country to elections in December.

A popular revolution ousted Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country then fell into political deadlock and was engulfed by civil war, with warlord Haftar seeking to seize power and overthrow the internationally recognized government.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar and Mahmoud Barakat