Egypt courts Libya’s rival factions in push for unity

Egypt is scaling up communications with rival Libyan factions to advance a political process and end institutional divisions in their country.

Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad met Deputy Commander–in-Chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Saddam Haftar in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alamein on 22 August to discuss developments on the Libyan scene.

Talks between the two sides also focused on proposals made in the past period to unify Libya’s executive authority as a basis for greater stability and elections in the restive North African country, according to media reports about the meeting.

The Egyptian intelligence chief called for capitalising on the current momentum around the same initiatives, describing it as an “opportunity” to promote stability and strengthen Libya’s unity, the same reports said.

The Egyptian effort comes as a regional and an international consensus builds on the need for ending Libyan rifts and advancing the North African state towards a settlement that contributes to its stability, observers in Cairo said.

It also comes amid unanimity on the need for restoring peace in Libya, which could contribute to stability in the Eastern Mediterranean region which acquires greater importance against the background of turmoil in crucial regional maritime chokepoints, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, they added.

“International and regional parties, especially Senior Advisor to the US President for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos, the UN mission in Libya, Egypt and Turkey, make serious efforts to unify Libyan institutions,” Egyptian political analyst Abdel Sattar Heteita said.

Speaking to The New Arab, he described this cooperation as a “positive development”, given traditional international and regional rivalries over Libya, following the downfall of the Muammar Gaddafi regime in 2011.

Changing approach

Egypt has broadened its involvement in Libya for several months now.

Yet, this involvement shows a clear break from Egypt’s traditional approach to the same topic, political analysts said.

Egypt’s post-Gaddafi approach to Libya specifically started forming following the 2012 parliamentary elections in the North African country, which shaped the rise and eventual institutional power of Islamist factions in it.

The same rise has later opened the way for Libya’s division into an Islamist-controlled west and a military, probably secular, east.

Egypt took sides with the eastern Libya government and army (the LNA) for ideological and security reasons, analysts said.

Nevertheless, the same approach started to witness considerable change in recent months, having coincided with a change in the map of regional alliances and the demise of the regional order created by the series of pro-democracy uprisings that swept through the region as of late 2010, they added.

“The demise of this order has had its effect on Egypt’s foreign policies, in particular, mainly changing its approach to the western Libya government,” Egyptian political researcher Islam Mansi told TNA.

This policy change, he added, serves Egypt’s final goal of protecting its own national security by embracing all factions in the neighbouring country.

Unlike Egypt, Turkey backed the western Libya government, offering insights into regional polarization on Libya.

However, ongoing reconciliation between Cairo and Ankara is opening the door for common ground on contentious files, including Libya, analysts said.

The 22 August meeting between the head of Egyptian intelligence and the deputy commander-in-chief of the LNA came only three days after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met LNA Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in Alamein.

During the meeting, Sisi reiterated his country’s support for Libya’s unity, territorial integrity and stability.

The Egyptian president also called for unifying Libyan institutions and holding simultaneous elections, the Egyptian Presidency said in a statement following the meeting.

It added that President Sisi also expressed support for initiatives aiming at ending Libya’s prolonged stalemate.

Egypt’s bid to balance its relations with different Libyan factions was manifested almost 19 days earlier when Sisi received Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the prime minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU) which is based in Tripoli.

Among other things, discussions between the Egyptian president and the prime minister of the western Libya government focused on efforts to advance the political process in Libya to consolidate stability in it, unify its institutions and create conditions to end its transitional period, according to Egyptian media reports.

Challenges ahead

Libya was also at the centre of phone talks between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Boulos on 22 August.

Egypt’s intensifying efforts on Libya and engagement with its different factions also reflect the vast opportunities it sees in the neighbouring country as well as the growing role it plays in regional security, specialists said.

Economic cooperation, particularly on reconstruction, was present in talks between the Egyptian president and the Libyan officials he met in Alamein.

These discussions came as Egypt tries to also widen its economic leverage in Libya, with the oil-rich nation seeking to rebuild itself, following years of chaos, the same specialists added.

“Libya buzzes with chances for Egyptian companies,” Mansi said, noting that Cairo’s embrace of all political forces in the neighbouring country creates more potential for business.

Egyptian companies have been intensely involved in the implementation of infrastructure projects, especially in eastern Libya, in the past years.

The same companies are also probably hoping to expand the scope of their work to GNU-controlled parts of Libya, where Turkey has strong presence too, observers said.

Egypt also has plans to establish an 800-kilometer pipeline between Tobruk, in the north-eastern part of Libya on the Mediterranean, and its northern coastal city of Alexandria.

The $1 billion pipeline will transport Libyan crude oil to refineries in the Egyptian coastal city, in Egypt’s bid to get dependable oil supplies amid disruptions to traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

Clear in Egypt’s current approach to the Libyan file is also the evolution of this approach from a view of the neighbouring country as a security and ideological file to a geostrategic file at the centre of an emerging regional order, analysts said.

This is particularly true with Libya’s aspired stability and unity possibly contributing to tightening the screws on regional forces supporting parties to the civil war in Sudan, they added.

In the past few years, Libya has emerged as a central supply route and logistics hub for parties to the war-torn African state.

Nevertheless, international efforts aiming at unifying Libyan institutions and holding elections face challenges, analysts said.

The entrenchment of dual rival power structures, the lack of consensus on an electoral and constitutional framework, the presence of foreign mercenaries, and disputes over economic and financial resources are but a few of these challenges, they added.

The same challenges, analysts said, highlight the importance of dialogue among rival parties.

“There can be no agreement between different Libyan factions in the absence of this dialogue,” Libyan political analyst Abdel Khaliq Maatouq told TNA.

Most Libyans, he noted, want to move directly straight to an end to their country’s transition.

“This can be done by holding simultaneous elections that terminate this transition and divisions among the Libyans,” he added.