CAIRO
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday that the international community must assume its "moral and security" commitments" towards next-door Libya, which has lately seen a sharp rise in militant infighting.
"There should be a serious approach to meet the reality of events on the ground in Libya," al-Sisi said during a press conference in Cairo with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
He said Egypt has tightened border security measures to prevent cross-border smuggling since the late 2011 ouster of late Libyan strongman Muamar Gaddafi.
He went on to call for an end to militant fighting in Libya and urged international actors to "begin working on a global anti-terrorism strategy in the region."
Renzi, for his part, said that Egypt and Italy – Libya's former colonizer - would be most affected by Libya's instability, going on to call on the United Nations to send a special envoy to Libya.
In the past few months, Libya has been plagued by heavy fighting between a loosely organized army and militias that clung to their weapons following a bloody uprising that ended Gaddafi's autocracy in 2011.
Libyan capital Tripoli has also been the scene of fierce clashes between warring militias over control of several vital facilities in the city.
The country's second largest city Benghazi has also turned into a battlefield between army units loyal to Haftar and Islamist Ansar Al-Sharia militia.
www.aa.com.tr/en
