Sudan participates in Libya liaison group meeting
September 23, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour has participated in the ministerial meeting of the international liaison group on the Libyan issue on the sidelines of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
He added that the Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj pointed in his address before the meeting that the Sudanese rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group are actively involved in the fighting among Libyan factions.
On September 10th, Libya’s Oil Installation Guards, Central Branch, spokesman, Ali Al Hassi, accused JEM of participating alongside renegade General Khalifa Haftar’s forces in an attack against the oil facilities in east Libya.
However, the political advisor to JEM’s chairman, Mahgoub Hussein, denied the accusations and stressed that his movement has no presence in the Libyan territory.
He described what is going on in Libya as an “internal affair”.
According to the foreign ministry, the meeting of the liaison group stressed the need to support and strengthen the GNA government in order to ensure Libya’s unity.
The meeting was also attended by representatives from various countries and regional bodies including Libya’s neighbors, United Nations, European Union, the Arab League and African Union besides Canada, China, France, Germany, Malta, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
The GNA, which formally came into being in March 2016, has been struggling to unify war-ridden North African nation and exert its control over its entire territory.
However, its task is complicated by the presence of a parallel government operating out of eastern Libya, backed by local militias and units of the national army loyal to Haftar.
(ST)