Ali H. M.Abo Rezeg
20 March 2018•Update: 20 March 2018
By Viola Fahmy
CAIRO
Cairo hosted a meeting on Tuesday -- the sixth of its kind -- to discuss means of “unifying” Libya’s chaotic military establishment, according to Egypt’s official MENA news agency.
From the Egyptian side, the meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri, acting General Intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Assistant Defense Minister Mohamed al-Kishki, and Military Intelligence head Mohamed Faraj al-Shahat.
From the Libyan side, the event was attended by Abdul Razek al-Nador, army chief-of-staff for Libya’s Tripoli-based government; and Abdul Rahman al-Taweel, army chief-of-staff for Libya’s Tobruk-based military establishment.
Attendees discussed means of uniting Libya’s disparate military institutions “as part of ongoing efforts to achieve national reconciliation”, MENA reported without providing any further details.
Cairo has repeatedly declared its support for Khalifa Haftar, a military commander appointed in 2015 by Libya’s Tobruk-based House of Representatives.
In recent months, military personnel representing Libya’s rival political camps have met in Cairo several times at the invitation of Egyptian Assistant Defense Minister Mohamed al-Kishki.
The series of meetings is aimed at developing a viable strategy for consolidating Libya’s military establishment, which has remained in a state of disarray since longstanding leader Muammar Gaddafi’s departure in 2011.
