Tripoli, 13 July 2012:
Libya has made no formal request for the return of Qaddafi loyalists from Egypt but has given assurances . . .[restrict]that they will be given a fair trial. This was revealed by Amin Belhaj, the Chairman of the National Transitional Council Planning Committee, who led a delegation to Cairo and met the new president Mohammed Morsi.
Belhaj confirmed later that no formal requests were made to the Egyptian authorities for the extradition of associates of the Qaddafi regime, some of whom are in hiding in Egypt. He did, however, say that the delegation had passed on an appeal from the Libyan people to the president, assuring him that Qaddafi loyalists would receive a fair trial.
Belhaj and his team arrived at the presidential palace in Heliopolis with congratulations to Morsi from NTC chairman Mustafa Jalil on becoming Egypt’s first freely-elected president.
Morsi stressed the importance of boosting co-operation between the neighbouring countries. The new president also called for better treatment of Egyptian workers. Some 10,000 Egyptians are returning to Libya after a 6 June agreement between Tripoli and Cairo. Before the revolution there were around 1.5 million Egyptians working in Libya, but many of these fled the country last year. [/restrict]
