CAIRO: Egypt and Tunisia have agreed to a UN-supported plan on Libya that would see the withdrawal of foreign forces and the holding of elections in the country by the end of the year.
A statement by the Egyptian presidency said that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi had made a phone call to his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, in which the two sides agreed on the need to intensify coordination in the Libyan crisis.
The statement stressed the desire of both sides to end the crisis in a way that paves the way for the return of security, stability and sovereignty to Libya.
As part of the agreement, presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on a scheduled date at the end of the year, in compliance with a road map agreed upon by Libyan parties.
El-Sisi also expressed Egypt’s support for the measures and efforts of the Tunisian president aimed at building a better future for the Tunisian people and achieving stability in the country.
Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said that the call dealt with “visions regarding a number of regional files of common interest, especially the Libyan crisis.”
According to a statement by the Tunisian presidency, Saied and El-Sisi’s conversation “represented an opportunity to review the strong and distinguished brotherly relations that exist between the two countries and to emphasize the common determination to diversify and strengthen them.”
During the call, Saied also congratulated El-Sisi on the anniversary of the October War. The Tunisian president added that during the war, the Egyptian army achieved an “unprecedented victory and a military miracle by all standards, by being able, within hours, to cross the Suez Canal and cross the Bar Lev Line.”
Saied expressed his thanks to the Egyptian president for the “air bridge which he authorized to support Tunisia’s efforts in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic, which further consolidated the bonds of solidarity between the two brotherly peoples.”
Libya is awaiting parliamentary and presidential elections on Dec. 24, based on the road map approved by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum with the support of the UN.
