Sabri Boukadoum Flies To Moscow, Aguila Salah To Visit Algeria on Saturday

Algeria is accelerating the diplomatic steps to avoid the outbreak of all-out war in the eastern neighbour, Libya, in light of the military buildup that reaches the city of Sirte, between the two conflicting parties backed by external forces.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said that Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, will hold talks with his Algerian counterpart, Sabri Boukadoum, on July 22 in the Russian capital, Moscow.

Zakharova added – in a statement – that these talks come within the framework of continuing dialogue on bilateral relationships and the main issues of concern to the two countries, which come at the head, in the opinion of many observers, the Libyan crisis.

Bougadoum’s visit to Russia comes less than a week after the phone call that was made by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and the Libyan file was, as is well known, at the top of the agenda.

Russia is an active player in the Libyan crisis, as it provides support and armament to the forces of retired general Khalifa Hafter, and it is Moscow that supplies the eastern wing of Libya with Wagner mercenaries, who take over the use of Russian weapons on the battlefront.

As for Algeria, it is the most prominent country among the neighbouring countries of Libya, which has kept one distance from all the parties in this country, which qualifies it to play the role of a successful mediator, especially since the party who used to put the stick in the wheel of Algerian initiatives, represented by General Haftar, broke his sting, and he was in the position to call for the cease-fire after he was strongly rejecting it.

In the same context, the head of the Libyan Parliament, which is based in Tobruk in the east, Aguila Salah, is expected to visit Algeria at the beginning of next week, which is considered the second of its kind in less than a month, to discuss the developments of the Libyan crisis.

Aguila Salah is discussing with Algerian officials the possibility of implementing a plan, proposed by Algeria, for holding a conference for a political solution in Libya, which includes all Libyan parties under international sponsorship in light of the outputs of the Berlin Conference, and it is the only option that remained before the eastern wing of Libya, because Algeria has previously announced that it responded to the initiative of Egypt, and informed Aguila Salah about this position during his recent visit to Algeria, in line with its consistent position, which is to stay at the same distance from all the parties.

According to some leaks, the Libyan Parliament Speaker will explain to the Algerian party some developments regarding the Libyan crisis, and the Tobruk Parliament and some Libyan tribes, requesting Egyptian intervention in the eastern Libya region and arming the tribal youth, as stated by the Egyptian president, this weekend, and this was mentioned by President Tebboune who warned of this situation in his interview with France 24.

Aguila Salah is expected to face avoidance from the Algerian party, which rejects any interference in the internal affairs of the eastern neighbour, including the Egyptian intervention, out of the conviction of the Algerian diplomacy, that external interference, whatever its source, will complicate the crisis and will not contribute to finding solutions to solve it.