Egypt, Tunisia Voice Support For Un-Backed Libya Talks

The governments of Egypt and Tunisia on Friday both expressed support for UN-backed peace talks between fractious Libya's warring factions.



The statements followed a Thursday meeting in Tunis between Osama al-Magdoub, Egypt's assistant foreign minister for neighboring countries' affairs, and Tohami al-Abdouli, Tunisia's minister of state for Arab affairs.



At the meeting, al-Magdoub stressed that Egypt "supports national dialogue in Libya and also calls for raising international awareness about the need to lift the ongoing arms embargo on the Libyan army," according to a Tunisian Foreign Ministry statement.



Al-Abdouli, for his part, noted that Tunisia likewise supported UN-backed talks between Libyan factions, stressing that "Libya's neighbors have an important role to play in resolving the crisis."



A fresh round of UN-sponsored talks between Libya's rival factions had been scheduled to take place in Morocco on Feb. 26.



Earlier this week, however, a UN official told The Anadolu Agency that the talks had been postponed indefinitely.



On Feb. 15, Egypt carried out airstrikes against suspected Daesh targets in the eastern Libyan city of Darnah after a video appeared online purportedly showing the murder of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Daesh militants.



Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the "Islamic State of Iraq and Levant" militant group, which last year overran vast swathes of territory in both Iraq and Syria.



Egypt recognizes the government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, which is associated with Libya's internationally-recognized parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Tunis