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Tripoli, March 12: Tunisia has recalled its consul in Benghazi for questioning because of his attendance last Tuesday at the conference . . .[restrict]in Benghazi which declared the establishment of a Cyrenaica Transitional Council.
Tunisian sources reportedly told the Libyan newspaper Libya Al-Mustaqbal that the consul had acted on his own, without referring back to the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Tunis.
On Saturday, an advisor to Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki phoned the Depouty Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Abdelaziz, to express regret at the consul’s action, saying it was a mistake. He expressed Tunisia’s full support for Libyan unity and its territorial integrity.
The attendance of some foreign diplomats at the Benghazi event has irked the Libyan government. On Saturday, Abdelaziz met the Italy’s ambassador in Tripoli to discuss an Italian diplomatic presence at the event. The ambassador is reported to have said that it was unintended, and expressed his regret, saying that Italy fully supports Libyan unity.
The Tunisian Ministery of Foreign Affairs meanwhile issued a statement following the conference stating its total rejection to anything that threatens Libya’s unity. It called on the various sections of Libyan society to hold on to the gains made by the17 February revolution and expressed confidence in Libya’s ability to move forward and make a smooth and stable transition to democracy.
On Sunday, Tunisian foreign minister, Rafik Abdessalam, while on a visit to Cairo, also told reporters that “Tunisia and Egypt share the goal of preserving national unity, security and stability in Libya”.
Speaking after talks with his Egyptian opposite number, Mohamed Amr, Abdessalam added: “The unilateral announcement of Cyrenaica made by some groups was rejected both by the Libyan elite and the Libyan people in general.”
He said that “one of the lessons drawn from our experience of the Tunisian revolution and the subsequent Egyptian revolution is that Arab politics are closely interwoven and that we influence each other.”
The security and stability of Libya “concerns us all as Arabs and as neighboring countries,” he stated.
Algeria also confirmed Sunday its opposition to anything that could destabilize Libya. At the ministers’ meeting of the regional security summit in Tripoli on Sunday that the Algerian Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia told NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil that “Algeria opposes any attempt to compromise the territorial of Libya, the stability of this brotherly country and the Libyan revolution”.
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