ADDIS ABABA
Egypt and Libya have rejoined an international conference on the Libyan conflict currently being held in Addis Ababa after having initially boycotted it to protest the presence of Qatari and Turkish representatives.
Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed al-Dairi and Amgad Abdel-Ghaffar, the Egyptian foreign minister's deputy aide for African Union (AU) affairs, both entered the conference hall in Addis Ababa after discussions were suspended for one hour during which the two men were persuaded to attend the meetings.
Egypt, Libya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had boycotted the conference – while Saudi Arabia and Kuwait failed to send representatives – on claims that they had not been formally invited to attend the event.
Abdel-Ghaffar's attendance reflected a scaled-down level of representation by Cairo after Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had initially been expected to attend the meeting.
Shoukry had told Ismail al-Sharqawi, chief of the AU's Peace and Security Council, that there was "no need" for Qatari or Turkish participation at the meeting, an African diplomatic source had told The Anadolu Agency.
However, African officials had insisted on Doha's and Ankara's presence, saying the two countries both had a stake in the Libyan conflict, the source said.
Relations between Cairo on one hand and Doha and Ankara on the other have been strained since Mohamed Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president – was ousted by the army in mid-2013.
Since then, Doha and Ankara – both of which had been allies of the Morsi administration – have been vocally critical of Egypt's military-backed authorities.
Egypt, for its part, accuses both countries of interfering in its domestic affairs.
Libya's internationally-recognized government in Tobruk, meanwhile, accuses Doha and Ankara of sponsoring a rival Islamist government in Tripoli.
The International Contact Group for Libya met on Wednesday in Addis Ababa to discuss the country's political crisis amid sharp divisions between participants over proposals for military intervention.
The contact group is composed of 16 Arab and European countries, along with the AU, the Cairo-based Arab League and the UN.
Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since the ouster and death of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
In the more than three years since, rival militias have frequently clashed in Libya's main cities, including capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi.
Stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each of which has its own institutions.
Vying for legislative authority are the internationally-backed House of Representatives, which convenes in Tobruk, and the Islamist-led General National Congress, which – even though its mandate ended last year – continues to convene in Tripoli.
The two assemblies support two rival governments respectively headquartered in the two cities.
