The transitional Dbeiba government in Libya tried to set a trap for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, on the occasion of the visit of the head of Greek diplomacy to the country, specifically to Tripoli and Benghazi.
The extortion was set up when the plane carrying Nikos Dendias to Libya landed in Tripoli so that the foreign minister could meet with the president of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Menfi.
Initially, Tripoli was not in the program of Mr. Dendia’s trip to Libya. However, sources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that, on the eve of the visit, Menfi had requested that the minister also go to Tripoli for a meeting with him. The meeting was scheduled on the condition that no one else would attend.
As it turned out, however, Nikos Dendia was awaited at Tripoli airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dbeiba transitional government, Naila Mangous, who signed the Turkish-Libyan agreement with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in October, based on the illegal Turkish-Libyan “memorandum” of 2019 which has been condemned by the international community.
Negotiations ensued during which the ladder of the plane carrying Nikos Dendias was never lowered and finally it was decided to cancel the visit to Tripoli and continue the trip of the Greek Foreign Minister to Benghazi to meet with the elected president of the House of Representatives, Agila Saleh Issa, as well as with other Libyan officials.
As specifically mentioned in the announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, to Tripoli, where he was scheduled to meet President Menfi, was canceled as the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs violated the agreement that existed regarding the non-meeting with the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.
However, the incident did not end there as the Libyan authorities refusing to approve the flight plan of the aircraft carrying Nikos Dendias to Benghazi.
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Finally the plane took off with a delay and through the Malta FIR it reached the airspace over eastern Libya in order to finally land in Benghazi.
It is recalled that the position of Athens, with which Egypt also aligns, is that the term of office of the government of Tripoli has expired and it does not have the legitimacy to sign international agreements that bind the future of the country, but instead its sole mission is to lead the country in elections, which it keeps postponing.
Upon his arrival at Benghazi airport, Nikos Dendias proceeded to donate 30,000 vaccines for the coronavirus.
During his stay in Benghazi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will also attend an event presenting Greece’s contribution to a program of the UN World Food Program (World Food Programme) for the reconstruction of the port of Benghazi. The port, as noted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is of particular importance as a gateway for humanitarian aid to Sub-Saharan Africa to deal with food crises facing the region and will have a meeting with the Presidency of the Hellenic Community of Benghazi.
The foreign minister’s discussions with Libyan officials during his visit, the ministry emphasizes, “are expected to focus on strengthening Greece-Libya cooperation, always based on respect for International Law and especially the Law of the Sea, in European Union relations with Libya and in the wider developments in the Mediterranean region. It is also expected to discuss the constitutional basis for holding elections in Libya as soon as possible”.
