Algeria Throws Its weight Behind Efforts To Resolve Libya Crisis

Algeria threw its weight behind the endeavours to resolve the Libyan crisis, which seems to have reached a state of complexity, with the increasing number of interferers, and this is indicated by the actions of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and the Foreign Minister, Sabri Boukadoum.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune began a series of meetings that gathered him with the ambassadors of several major countries, in less than 24 hours, like the United States Ambassador, John P. Desrocher, and the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ulrike Maria Knotz, and he is expected to meet other diplomats working in Algeria.

In the two statements that culminated in these two meetings, the presidential statement indicated that the Libyan issue was among the files discussed with the American and German diplomats.

Before that, the Foreign Minister, Sabri Boukadoum, talked by phone with his Libyan counterpart, Mohamed Taher Siala, and the Tunisian FM, Noureddine Al-Rai, the Egyptian FM, Sameh Shoukry, and the Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, according to a statement of the Algerian FM Ministry.

“In addition to discussing ways to enhance bilateral relationships with these sister countries, the talks dealt with developments in the situation at the regional level, especially the recent developments in Libya”, Algeria’s Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Minister reiterated Algeria’s steadfast stance calling for a political settlement through dialogue between the various Libyan parties to reach a “comprehensive political solution that guarantees the unity, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Libya following international legitimacy and within the framework of respecting the will of the brotherly Libyan people away from external interference”.

Previously, Algeria invited the Libyan parties to sit at the dialogue table in Algeria and made strenuous efforts to bring stability to the eastern neighbour, but those who put the stick in the wheel, were more eager to block the Algerian initiative, and then keep Libya steeped in bloodshed.

President Tebboune explained, in the interview that was broadcast on public television, that the parties that were obstructing the Algerian efforts are those who worked to cut the road on the former Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, to take over the post of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Libya to succeed Ghassan Salamé, and they are the same parties which failed the Algerian initiative to find a solution to the Libyan crisis, which was close to success.

It is known that Algeria was among the countries that had reservations about the Egyptian initiative on Libya, and the Foreign Ministry justified this reservation when it made it clear that the Algerian position is at the same distance from the two opposing sides in the eastern neighbour because Egypt Al-Sissi initiative was biased to the Libyan East Group, represented by the Chairman of Parliament, Akila Saleh, and the leader of the Al Karama Operation, Khalifa Haftar, at the expense of the main party in the equation, the internationally recognized government.

Algeria is seeking, through the efforts of the President and the Foreign Minister, to try to correct the prejudice that occurred to the party that was more reasonable and calm over nearly seven years, especially since this party was the one that was able, in recent times, to impose its logic on the ground.