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By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis, 13 July 2017:
It has emerged that US ambassador to Libya Peter Bodde held talks with Khalifa Hafter in Amman, Jordan last Sunday.
Revealing the meeting today, the US embassy said Bodde had called on all of Libya’s factions to reduce tensions and “move toward a compromise on the basis of the Libya Political Agreement (LPA), which provides a roadmap for a transitional government and national elections”.
The embassy said the US would continue to engage with a variety of Libyan political and security figures. It drew attention to Bodde’s frequent talks with Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj.
Bodde then moved on to Cairo where, with AFRICOM chief Thomas Waldhauser, he had talks with Egypt’s chief of staff and Libya lead, Mahmoud Hegazy.
Hegazy stressed that the national dialogue and efforts to find compromises within the LPA needed to remain at the core of discussions.
An Egyptian army spokesman said after the encounter that this approach had to continue for Libya’s state institutions to strengthen and grow.
He added that Waldhauser had praised Egypt’s central role in stabilising Libya and bringing different factions together.
The same day, on sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in the Ivory Coast, the PC’s foreign minister Mohamed Siala was told by his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry that only the LPA could protect state institutions and help restore a semblance of stability in Libya. Shoukry said Egypt would continue to work with all of Libya’s various factions and encourage the reaching of a consensus.
Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zaid told reporters that the issue of Qatar and its involvement in Libya and further afield was also discussed. While the Beida-based government has backed Egypt and other Arab states in labelling Qatar a terrorist supporter, the PC has so far remained quiet.
