Egypt reopens Libya embassy
Egypt reopened its embassy in Libya’s capital Tripoli on Saturday after a 12-year absence, a step that marks a rapprochement with the country’s western-based administration, the foreign affairs ministry in Cairo said in a statement.
The move marks a shift for Cairo, which has been one of the most prominent backers of eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar, a rival of the Tripoli-based government.
Egypt’s foreign affairs minister, Badr Abdelatty, was quoted in the statement as saying at the reopening ceremony that the historical significance of the embassy building “aligns with the deep-rooted human and cultural ties that characterize Egyptian-Libyan relations”.
Egypt closed its Tripoli embassy in 2014, when many foreign missions there shut amid an escalating conflict that saw rival governments set themselves up in the capital and in the east of the huge North African country.
Libya’s divided political landscape
Oil producer Libya has been plunged into chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
In Benghazi, in eastern Libya, are the Libyan National Army under military commander Khalifa Haftar and the House of Representatives, as well as a government led by Osama Hammad.
In the west are the internationally recognised Government of National Unity, headed by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and the High Council of State in Tripoli.
