US Security Adviser in Egypt for Talks on Libya

Egypt’s President Sisi meets with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. (Egypt presidency spokesman)
Egypt’s President Sisi meets with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. (Egypt presidency spokesman)
TT

US Security Adviser in Egypt for Talks on Libya

Egypt’s President Sisi meets with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. (Egypt presidency spokesman)
Egypt’s President Sisi meets with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. (Egypt presidency spokesman)

US President Joe Biden's national security adviser met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday for talks aimed at ensuring Libya's December elections go ahead as planned, Sisi's office said.

Jake Sullivan travelled to Egypt as part of a Middle East tour that also includes stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In his meeting with Sisi, they spoke about "organizing the Libyan elections" as well as "the withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries" from the war-ravaged country and the "unification of its armed forces", the Egyptian leader's spokesman Bassem Radi said.

Sullivan's trip to Cairo comes around two weeks after Egypt separately hosted head of the Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, and east-based Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar.

A UN-led process secured a landmark ceasefire in October last year, raising hopes that elections scheduled for December 24 can bring lasting peace to the country.

Controversy over an electoral law has threatened the process, however.

Parliamentary Speaker Aguila Saleh angered critics who charged that he bypassed due process and pushed through legislation favoring Haftar, who suspended his military activities last week in a step that could lead to a run for the presidency.

Sisi and Sullivan also discussed an Ethiopian mega-dam on the Nile that is causing tensions with downstream nations Egypt and Sudan.



Iraqi PM Slams Israel’s Complaint over Attacks by Iraqi Iran-Backed Militias

13 January 2023, Berlin: Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, prime minister of Iraq, makes remarks at a press conference after his talks with Chancellor Scholz at the Federal Chancellery. (dpa)
13 January 2023, Berlin: Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, prime minister of Iraq, makes remarks at a press conference after his talks with Chancellor Scholz at the Federal Chancellery. (dpa)
TT

Iraqi PM Slams Israel’s Complaint over Attacks by Iraqi Iran-Backed Militias

13 January 2023, Berlin: Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, prime minister of Iraq, makes remarks at a press conference after his talks with Chancellor Scholz at the Federal Chancellery. (dpa)
13 January 2023, Berlin: Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, prime minister of Iraq, makes remarks at a press conference after his talks with Chancellor Scholz at the Federal Chancellery. (dpa)

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has dismissed an Israeli complaint to the UN Security Council about strikes by Iraq's Iran-backed Shiite militias on Israel as a "pretext and argument to attack Iraq" and to "expand the war in the region."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had earlier posted on X a letter to the Security Council saying that "Israel has the inherent right to self-defense ... and to take all necessary measures to protect itself and its citizens against the ongoing acts of hostilities by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq."

An umbrella group of Iraqi militias known as the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" has regularly launched drone strikes on targets in Israel in recent months in support of its Hamas and Hezbollah allies in the ongoing wars in the Middle East.

Saar said some of the militias are part of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces — a coalition of mostly Shiite armed groups that's technically part of the Iraqi army although it operates in practice largely outside state control — and urged the Iraqi government to "take immediate action to halt and prevent these attacks."

Al-Sudani’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that Iraq has refused to enter into the regional conflict while "seeking to provide relief to the Palestinian and Lebanese people."