France is working with Egypt against the terrorism in Libya

France is acting “in concert on the ground” with Egypt in Libya both to support the fight against terrorism and to facilitate “national reconciliation”, French president Emmanuel Macron said Monday during a joint press conference in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Macron added that “we have been working together for several months on the situation in Libya” and “close dialogue enabled us to act in concert on the ground”. “We have two objectives. The first is to fight against terrorism and to support all Libyan parties fighting effectively against terrorism,” he said, implicitly referring to forces under General Khalifa Haftar. Macron went on to say that “the second is national reconciliation, the only kind that will ensure the necessary stability”. On this issue, the French president noted the meetings held between Libya prime minister Fayez Al-Serraj and Haftar in July 2017 in Celle-Saint-Cloud, near Paris, and those in the spring of last year in the French capital.

“We managed to consolidate the beginning of reconciliation on the ground and we will watch over it so that the coming weeks and months will make it possible to move forward in this direction,” Macron added. He noted that “clearly we are working closely with the UN special envoy”, Ghassan Salamè.

Source: Ansamed