The head of Libya’s new presidency council Mohammed Menfi completed his first three key foreign trips since taking office 11 days ago by a Friday to Turkey.
Before his meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, Menfi had been in Paris to meet President Emmanuel Macron then flown on to Cairo for talks with President Abdel Fattah Sisi.
The head of Libya’s new presidency council is due soon in the capital to begin work on a transitional government amid cautious hopes conflict may be coming to an end https://t.co/w5R3bQxus4
— Bloomberg (@business) February 7, 2021
The object of Menfi’s tour of the three capitals is not so much fence-mending as a fence-removal. Turkey had backed the Tripoli-based former Government of National Accord (GNA) against the Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA). This, in its turn, was supported by Egypt and France as well as Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Libya’s new Government of National Unity (GNU) was sworn in on March 15. For it to succeed it needs the support of all those foreign players who until now have been backing one of other of the two rival Libyas. In the GNU’s immediate favour has been the unexpectedly smooth transition of power after a decade of violent chaos.
Menfi’s Turkish stopover will be seen by his administration as probably his most important. Turkish contractors are nursing unpaid debts carried over from Gadhafi’s regime of some $30 billion. Ankara is anxious that its companies will play an active and profitable role in rebuilding the war-torn country. The new Libyan prime minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh has already said economic deals struck with Turkey by the GNA should remain.
In 2019, Ankara signed a maritime demarcation agreement with the GNA in the eastern Mediterranean and a military cooperation accord under which Turkey sent military advisers and trainers to Tripoli. Ankara also sent Syrian fighters to help the GNA block an LNA offensive on Tripoli last year.
#France to reopen its embassy in #Libya's capital Tripoli to show its support for the North African country’s new unity government, President Emmanuel Macron says after meeting Mohammed al-Menfi, the head of the Libyan presidency council https://t.co/eHsnyFdOOl pic.twitter.com/3zC1Ef2bO5
— Radio EastMed (@RadioEastmed) March 24, 2021
However the new Libyan government, which is being called “interim” because of fresh elections scheduled for this December, is also committed to overseeing the departure of all the estimated 20,000 foreign forces from the country as a matter of urgency. Menfi’s talks with Erdogan will therefore have covered the when and how Turkey would pull out its own contingents.
Turkey, Egypt and the UAE have each welcomed the appointment of the new government, as have the United States and European Union. However, foreign powers that backed each side have not pulled out fighters or arms.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
