A tripartite meeting between Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria to discuss resolving the Libyan crisis will be held on Sunday instead of 1 March, the Tunisian foreign ministry announced on Friday. In an official statement, the Tunisian ministry said that upon consultation with the Egyptian and Algerian foreign ministers, it was decided that the meeting, hosted by Tunisia, be brought forward. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Khamis Alaghinawa announced Tunisia is set to host on 1 March a much-anticipated tripartite summit on the Libyan crisis. The meeting will tackle the results of the consultations the three countries conducted with the Libyan factions to reach a convergence of views between them, according to the minister's statement. It will also lay the foundations of a consensual political solution to the crisis and create the conditions for the gathering of the Libyan parties to the dialogue table. Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi will meet with the ministers afterwards on Monday, and the three ministers will present the outcome of their meeting to him. A source at the Tunisian foreign ministry told Ahram that the trilateral consultation meeting was brought forward “due to the need to meet at the soonest and swiftly launch an initiative to resolve the issues in Libya.” Tunisia and Algeria will join Egypt in mediating between the Libyan sides to find a solution to the crisis. The Egyptian army's chief of staff, Mahmoud Hegazi, who is mediating talks between the Libyan factions on behalf of Cairo, received a delegation on Thursday from Libya's High Council of State. This was the latest visit by officials from Libya to discuss a way forward with Egyptian officials. Earlier this week, talks were held between the chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council, Fayaz Al-Sarraj, who is based in the capital Tripoli in the west of the country and is recognised by the UN as the country's president, and Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar and Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh, who both represent the House of Representatives in eastern Libya's Tobruk. Over the past months, Cairo has held meetings with different Libyan political factions, where Egypt has stressed the need for a political consensus to end the crisis in the country. In December, Egyptian officials and representatives from multiple Libyan factions issued a declaration of principles and five proposed amendments to the Skhirat agreement during a meeting in Cairo. The December conference concluded by underscoring four main principles to be respected in Libya's transition: the preservation of a united Libyan territory, support for national institutions, non-interference by foreign bodies, and the maintaining of a civil state.
