Egypt, Arab League welcome Libya’s interim government

Cairo: Egypt has welcomed the election of a new interim government in neighbouring Libya that will lead the strife-wracked country until elections scheduled for December.

Members of a Libyan political forum Friday voted in a UN-sponsored process in Switzerland to elect a presidency council and a prime minister to prepare for the December 24 elections.

Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibeh was elected as prime minister and Mohammed Menfi as head of the Presidency Council.

Egypt said it looks forward to working with the unified Libyan interim executive authority until the handover of power to an elected government.

Political situation

A spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry urged the Libyans to “continue to give precedence to their country’s supreme interests” and all international and regional parties to support a political solution to the long-standing Libyan crisis to help restore stability in the country and ensure departure of all foreign fighters.

The Cairo-based Arab League, meanwhile, hailed the formation of the interim executive authority in Libya.

An official source at the League welcomed what the source described as the success of the Libyan Forum in “positive shouldering of its responsibilities”, Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency MENA reported.

The source hoped that the three-member Presidency Council will take office and the new government will be formed at the “earliest possible chance” to start preparing for the presidential and legislative elections.