By Jamie Prentis.
Tunis, 15 June 2017:
In Cairo today on what is expected to be his last trip there in his current post, UN special envoy Martin Kobler said it was important to pass on Egypt’s views on Libya to his successor. He also spoke of the importance of UN-Egyptian cooperation on Libya continuing in future.
Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry reiterated the view, saying working with the UN on the Libya situation was important and beneficial.
Furthermore, Egypt would always push for a settlement that retained Libya’s territorial integrity, empowered its state institutions and was based around the Libyan Political Agreement, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
On his Twitter feed, Kobler said it was “great” to meet Shoukry and “hear his thoughts on keeping Libya’s political process moving”.
Their discussions followed a meeting between Kobler and Egypt’s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Hegazy, who heads his government’s Libya file. Kobler described it as an in-depth review of the Libya situation with a good friend of the UN.
Kobler was twice in Tripoli in the past week for farewell talks with members of the Presidency Council, the head of the State Council and foreign minster Taher Siala.
His successor is expected to be announced imminently. It emerged a few days ago that Paris-based Lebanese academic Ghassan Salamé is the front-runner for the job.
