TRIPOLI: Major Arab states boycotted a ministerial meeting hosted by Libya’s interim government on Sunday, with just five of the Arab League’s 22 members sending their top diplomats and even the bloc’s secretary general staying away. The snub underlines Arab divisions over the Tripoli-based government, whose legitimacy is contested by a rival administration in the war-scarred country’s east. Regional heavyweights Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were not represented at all at the gathering — a preparatory session ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo. Najla al-Mangoush, foreign minister in the Tripoli-based administration, condemned what she called “attempts by certain sides to crush Libyans’ desire to transform Arab solidarity into a reality”. The resulting power grab gave rise to myriad home-grown militias and prompted interventions by Arab powers as well as Turkiye, Russia and Western states.

Source: Libya Today January 23, 2023 02:31 UTC