Egypt's PM rejects any foreign intervention in Libya Libya's Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni met with Egypt's president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Egyptian PM during visit to Cairo
Egypt on Wednesday reiterated its support to Libya as well as its rejection of any interference in the internal affairs of the neighbouring North African country. The comments were made by Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab following talks with his Libyan counterpart Abdullah Al-Thinni in Cairo that Egyptian official hailed as "significantly important." Mahlab reiterated Egypt's "support of the Libyan people's will and respect for their choices," a reference to recent elections in which a new parliament was installed in place of an Islamist General National Congress transitional body and the naming of a new cabinet, headed by Al-Thinni. "We are supporting the Libyan people in their choices and thus we have to urgently support all [their] needs and to coordinate on the highest levels in all fields, including services, border-control and security control and exchanging information to fight terrorism," Mahlab said in a press conference along with Al-Thinni. Al-Thinni also said that the visit focused on different kinds of coordination, including military cooperation. "Libyan security is part of Egypt's security and vice versa and thus security coordination has to be on the highest levels," Al-Thinni said."We are facing terrorism, in the full meaning of the word, and terrorism needs to be faced with strength." Libya has lately seen some of its worst violence since the toppling of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The government and elected parliament relocated to the eastern city of Tobruk after rival Islamist-aligned forces from the western city of Misrata seized the capital, set up a rival parliament and named a cabinet. Mahlab emphasised that Egypt refuses any intervention in Libya's internal affairs. Al-Thinni also met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who expressed strong ties between both states. During the meeting with Al-Thinni, El-Sisi stressed the necessity of supporting Libyan institutions and its elected leadership to ensure the country's stability, said a spokesman for the Egyptian presidency, Alaa Youssef said. El-Sisi also spoke of the importance of collecting weapons and establishing "a strong national army" in Libya, "away from tribal or sectarian issues." Egyptian officials have repeatedly expressed serious concerns over the flow of weapons and militants – and violence – across the Libyan-Egyptian border. Egypt denied claims it carried out joint airstrikes with the United Arab Emirates on militia targets in Libya in August. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/112607.aspx
