Of the 22 member states that make up the Arab League, only five sent their foreign ministers as expected, some sent envoys of a lower rank, and countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates did not send envoys at all. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit of Egypt did not attend the meeting, leading Mohamed Hammouda, the spokesman for the Government of National Unity in Libya, to accuse him of being “biased toward one member state over another” during a televised press conference. Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush said that the boycott was part of some countries’ attempts “to crush Libyans’ desire to transform Arab solidarity into a reality” since, during Sunday’s Arab League meeting, she called on Arab countries to support United Nations efforts to hold the country’s stalled elections. Hassan says that this kind of meeting usually is called for by the country that holds the rotating presidency of the Arab League, which currently is Libya. She notes that some Arab countries did not attend the Tripoli meeting as an attempt to stay distant from the Libyan conflict.

Source: Libya Today January 23, 2023 23:52 UTC