By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis 17 January 2017:
A group of members of the House of Representatives who support the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) signed in Skhirat in December 2015 have been in Algiers for talks with senior officials there about ongoing crisis in Libya.
Led by Tripoli HoR member, Ali Tikbali, they were invited by the Hachemi Djiar, a close colleague of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika who heads the “presidential bloc” in the Algerian senate (the one-third of its members appointed by the president).
The group met with him yesterday and on Sunday with Algeria’s Maghreb, Arab and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel minister who is spearheading Algerian efforts to broker a peace deal in Libya that fits in with the LPA but is acceptable to all sides of the divide.
This was the second group of HoR members to be asked to Algiers in a week. Last Monday, a group of anti-Presidency Council were there for talks with Messahel while the previous week saw visits by UN special envoy Martin Kobler and State Council head Abdulrahman Sewehli.
Days earlier, Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj, east Libya military supremo Field Marshal Khalifa Hafter and HoR head Ageela Salah were also in the Algerian capital on separate occasions for talks.
Algeria’s mediation efforts are being coordinated with Tunisia and have tried to focus on a Libya-Libya dialogue and national reconciliation as the means to a peace deal. So far, though, nothing concrete has emerged from them.