Egypt‘s active involvement in developments in Libya reveals the second meeting in a few days that President Sisi had with the leadership of eastern Libya. General Haftar, who met with President Sisi last week, was followed today by the speaker of the parliament, Aqila Saleh, who arrived in Egypt to meet with the president of the country.

Tomorrow, Foreign Minister G. Gerapetritis is going to Benghazi for talks with General Haftar at a highly sensitive juncture in Greek-Libyan relations. Athens is on an open line with Cairo on the handling of the Libyan issue, which for Greece at this stage has two critical aspects: efforts to consolidate the finalities of the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum, and the migration issue.

It is not known whether in these meetings the Egyptian president attempted to send messages to Eastern Libya, also in relation to the possibility of setting a date for the vote in parliament on the ratification of the Turkish-Colombian Memorandum, which also affects Egypt’s interests. In the past few days, a website reported that there was Egyptian intervention with President Trump’s envoy to contact and convince General Haftar to prevent the parliament from proceeding to ratify the MOU.

However, as developments in Libya are extremely volatile, with the government in Tripoli being challenged and shaken, Al-Sisi expressed his full support for his neighbouring country, stressing the importance of maintaining its sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the need to unify efforts to achieve a comprehensive political settlement of the crisis, which would allow for the holding of simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections as soon as possible.

According to Arab media, President Sisi, in his meeting with A. Saleh, expressed Egypt’s interest in participating in the reconstruction process in Libya, while stressing the importance of withdrawing all foreign forces from the country, according to Arab media. For his part, A. Saleh expressed his appreciation for the relations between the two countries and for President Sisi’s role in supporting Libya’s unity, stressing that this support is a fundamental pillar for restoring security and stability, facilitating the transition phase and implementing the upcoming election deadlines.

In Tripoli after the calm that prevailed in recent weeks, new riots broke out yesterday as Libyan media reported that Abdul Moneim Al-Mariami, a prominent Libyan political activist and harsh critic of the government of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeiba, died under suspicious circumstances after being detained by the Internal Security Agency (ISA) in Tripoli. His death has raised new concerns about the state of civil liberties and rights in western Libya.

According to a statement from the Libyan Prosecutor General’s Office, Al-Mariami suffered fatal injuries after he reportedly jumped from an upper floor of the prosecution building following an official interrogation. Authorities claim he fell while waiting for his relatives to arrive, leading him to be taken to hospital, where he expired.

Earlier this week, the Security Directorate had reported that Al-Mariami had been kidnapped by unknown armed men. His car was found abandoned, with his two children inside, and there was no information on his whereabouts until the Attorney General’s Office confirmed that he had been detained by state security forces.

Al-Mariami had gained considerable publicity in recent months, participating in anti-government protests in western Libya.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) expressed its deep shock and sadness at the death of the activist, calling for a transparent and independent investigation into his arbitrary detention, allegations of torture during his detention and all the circumstances surrounding his death.