By Jamie Prentis.
Tunis, 5 May 2017:
The foreign ministers of Tunisia and Egypt arrived in Algiers today for the latest round of tripartite talks seeking to find a solution to the Libyan crisis and the political deadlock.
The Algerian foreign ministry says this is the latest step in concerted diplomatic drive by the three countries to help Libya and restore stability. Bolstering security efforts is top of the list.
Today and tomorrow’s discussions are being hosted by Algeria’s Maghreb, African and Arab Affairs Minister Abdelkader Messahel, who in April toured Libya talking with most of the key players.
In February, the three countries agreed the ‘Tunis Declaration,’ an initiative seeking to get mediation efforts quickly back on track. Tunisia’s efforts were lauded by UN envoy Martin Kobler last month, when he and the Tunisian foreign minister Khemaies Jhinaoui and Sameh Shoukry agreed that limited changes to the Libyan Political Agreement were needed.
In May, at a conference neighbouring states attended by the Tripartite foreign ministers along with their counterparts from Sudan, Chad, Niger and Libya, all sides insisted that they hoped their future meetings would be in Tripoli.
