Cairo Declaration a serious bid to counter Turkey’s plan to divide Libya

Nahla Abdelmonem

Turkey works to turn Libya into a field for a new proxy war that enables it to fulfill its ambitions in the Eastern Mediterranean region, namely controlling the natural gas wealth of the region.

To do this, Turkey uses the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and its allied militias.

Egypt, meanwhile, proposed an initiative for settling the conflict in Libya, given Libya’s importance for Egypt’s national security.

Called “Cairo Declaration”, the initiative calls for the formation of a presidential council that combines Libya’s three regions. The members of the council, it says, have to be elected by the Libyan people under supervision from the United Nations.

The initiative was declared by Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on June 6, in the presence of the Commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, and the Speaker of the Tobruk-based House of Deputies, Aguila Saleh.

The initiative also calls for the unification of Libyan state institutions to ensure the fair distribution of resources to all Libyan citizens.

Partitioning plan

Turkey and Qatar are pushing for Libya’s partition, using their Muslim Brotherhood allies on the ground.

Turkish and Qatari media reporting developments in Libya insist on spreading divisive terms, such as the “eastern camp” and the “western camp”, in reference to the two warring parties.

The fact is that Turkey is trying to gain a foothold inside strategic areas in Libya. It also wants to give other less important parts of the country to other international players.

Action

This means that Turkey is trying to repeat the Syrian scenario in Libya.

Turkish affairs specialist Karam Saeed said Turkey is trying to reproduce the Syrian experience in Libya.

“It wants to do this by dividing the country into three parts to ease its control of Libyan oil,” he told The Reference.

Saeed added that unity between the Libyan National Army, Libyan tribes and the House of Deputies would be enough to sabotage these plans.