NIAMEY- The ninth ministerial meeting of Libya’s neighbouring countries will be held in Niger’s Niamey on Wednesday, with the participation of representatives of regional and international organizations with a view to deepening consultation and coordination between the countries of the region, in order to cope with the current challenges and support the political process in the country.
The meeting will address “several issues related to the situation in the region, which is facing terrorism, organized crime, drug and arms trafficking and illegal migration,” said Minister of Maghreb Affairs, African Union and Arab League Abdelkader Messahel.
In addition to the Foreign ministers of Algeria, Niger, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Chad and Sudan, the meeting will be also attended by the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIl), Martin Kobler, Tanzania’s former president and African Union Special Envoy for Libya Jakawa Kikwete, and the Arab League’s Secretary General Ahmed Abu al-Gheit.
The meeting will also examine the situation following the recent developments in Libya and the ongoing national, regional and international efforts for the resolution of the crisis in the country within the framework of the political process.
It will be also an opportunity to assess the repercussions of the crisis on the security and stability of neighbouring countries, and examine ways and means to support the political process and the efforts for the restoration of security and stability in the country.
Meeting of Libya’s neighbouring countries, a coordination and support process to political solutions in region
Algeria, which hosted the first meeting of the Foreign ministers of Libya’s neighbouring countries in May 2014 on the sidelines of the ministerial meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement, has reaffirmed, on several occasions, its constant position on the crisis in Libya, stressing the “need to adopt a political solution, which preserves the unity and sovereignty of Libya and the cohesion of its people, as well as the necessity to combat terrorism, which has become a genuine threat to the future of the country, and the need to put the supreme interest of Libya above all other considerations.”
Niamey ministerial meeting is in line with the eighth meeting of Tunis (March 2016) and the seventh meeting of Algiers (December 2015), which allowed to mobilize the necessary support to the UN-sponsored political agreement and to Libya’s Presidential Council, chaired by Fayez al-Sarraj.
During those two meetings, the participants reiterated the objection of any military intervention in Libya. They underlined that any military action directed to combat terrorism should be upon the request of Libya’s Government of National Accord and in accordance with the provisions of the UN Charter, in the light of potential repercussions on Libya and the security and stability of neighbouring states, and the region in general.
Libya’s neighbouring countries have expressed, on several occasions, their deep concern over the expansion of terrorist organizations in some Libyan regions, which will constitute a genuine threat to the Libyan people and to the future of the country’s political process, as well as to the security and stability of neighbouring countries and the region in general.
