Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron exchanged point of views on the latest developments in Libya in a phone call late on Wednesday, the Egyptian presidency announced. El-Sisi highlighted the country's efforts to settle the Libyan crisis in a manner that honours the will of the Libyan people and proyects Libya's resources, unity, territorial integrity and, at the same time, protects the national security of Egypt on its western geographical front. Macron also praised Egypt's great efforts to restore security and stability in the war-torn country in light of the Cairo Declaration as an extension to the Berlin path to resolve the Libyan crisis, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said. The presidents underlined the importance of stopping all illegal foreign interventions in Libyan lands that use armed militias and terrorist organizations to achieve its goals at the expense of stability in Libya and regional security as a whole. They also agreed to continue joint coordination in the coming period to support efforts aiming to reaching a settlement for the crisis, Radi added. In early June, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar, and Libya's parliament speaker Aguila Saleh announced a new joint Cairo Declaration, a political initiative aimed at ending the conflict in Libya and obliges all foreign parties to “remove all foreign mercenaries nationwide." Egypt, France and the UAE support the government in Eastern Libya while Turkey and Qatar back the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. Turkey has recently transferred thousands of Syrian Jihadis and mercenaries to back the GNA in its confrontation with the LNA. Earlier this week, Libya's parliament passed a motion authorising Egypt to intervene militarily if needed to safeguard the "national security" of both countries in light of what it termed a Turkish occupation. Meanwhile, Macron has accused Turkey of flouting its commitments by ramping up its military presence in Libya and bringing in jihadi fighters from Syria.
