Lamamra: “We deal with Al Hassi and Thini governments but we don’t recognize their legitimacy

Algerian Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, said Algeria does not recognize Governments, but States, while noting that Algeria currently deals with the two competing Governments in Libya, the first one led by Omar Al Hassi, and the second one, which enjoys international recognition, and is led by Abdullah Thini.

He added that Algeria is against the granting of Syria’s official seat at the Arab League to the Syrian opposition coalition, while Tunisia’s Foreign Minister opposed the Egyptian request to form an Arab Army to fight the “Daesh” terror organization by describing such an Egyptian proposal as not “viable” and “unrealistic”.

Mr Ramtane Lamamra expounded Algeria’s position with regard to the two competing Governments in Libya without recognizing the legitimacy of both of them, stressing that Algeria recognizes states not governments but “our prime focus, he said, is on the adequate solution and not on the problem itself”.

Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and his visiting Tunisian opposite number, Tayeb Baccouche, expressed Thursday, in Algiers, their wish to see Libya overcome the plight it is going through and preserve its national and territorial unity through the conclusion of a comprehensive peace and reconciliation agreement.

Algeria “is searching for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Libya and is dealing with all Libyan parties at issue,” Lamamra told a news conference held jointly with the Tunisian Foreign minister.

He cited visits paid by some Libyan officials to Algeria, such as the speaker of the elected Libyan Parliament and the participation of many Libyan political representatives in the meeting of Algiers held in the past couple of days.

The foreign minister pointed out that Algeria, as part of the group of Libya’s neighbour countries, had been officially commissioned to ensure security coordination with all those neighbouring countries.

Contacts do exist between those countries and the different players in Libya, with the exception of the terrorist groups who are utterly excluded from the dialogue process, Mr Lamamra pointed out.

Tunisia’s Foreign Minister, for his part, extolled Algeria’s sustained efforts to thrash out a peaceful solution to the Libyan crisis, underlining his country’s support for this endeavor, which he dubbed as a “duty towards the brotherly people in the region.”

Mr Baccouche stressed that Tunisia is deploying efforts to put an end to violence in Libya and is favourable to conciliatory meetings bringing together belligerents in the hope of achieving a positive breakthrough to the crisis.

“Peace and security in the region will create a climate propitious to investments and development, he asserted.”