Participants at the Fourth Ministerial Meeting for the Neighboring Countries of Libya convening in Cairo Monday have adopted the initiative proposed by Egypt that calls for disarming militias, supporting the newly elected parliament and rebuilding state institutions, among other key steps to stabilize the country.
The countries called for an immediate halt to military operations and urged armed militias to renounce violence and put down their weapons, according to a final communique released after the end of the meeting.
"Key provisions of the initiative include fighting terrorism, working towards achieving national reconciliation in Libya, writing a new constitution, and assisting the Libyan army and security forces," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri told reporters at a joint press conference with his Libyan counterpart Mohammed Abdel Aziz following the meeting.
Libya asked for outside intervention and international assistance to prevent the crisis from extending to neighboring countries. "This statement reflects a strong commitment among Libya neighboring countries to put Libya at the heart of their attention and focus on security and fighting terrorism in the country," Abdel Aziz said at the press conference.
"One of the main recommendations was the recognition of the newly elected House of Representative as the country's highest authority and it's the body that will lead future political work in cooperation with the government. We hope that a new government will be formed soon," Abdel Aziz added.
For his part, Shoukri said that "there have been a great deal of consensus among convening countries that foreign intervention is completely ruled out and the goal of this effort by neighboring countries is to address the issue from a political perspective."
The Egyptian foreign minister also noted that the efforts made by Egypt and other neighboring countries could not be regarded as foreign intervention in Libya's affairs, as it was meant to assist the Libyan people to overcome the current crisis, he said.
The meeting comes two days after Egypt denied reports claiming that Egyptian warplanes raided positions held by armed Islamist militias in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday.
Foreign ministers of Algeria, Chad, Sudan, and Tunisia, and a senior official from Niger are also present at the closed-door meeting, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported.
The meeting seeks to discuss all possible initiatives and proposals to support the Libyans to regain their security, stability and rebuild the country's institutions according to Shoukri.