Reports emanating from Libya indicate that a meeting was held on Sunday in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, by the Head of the Presidential Council Mohammed Menfi, Khalifa Haftar, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, with the aim of finding a common ground on differences.
According to sources, the meeting had discussed the mechanism of holding elections with a roadmap that would be satisfactory to all political parties, saying that this came within the rapprochement between Menfi and Haftar that began since the failure of the Presidential Council’s initiative to bring together Saleh and Khaled Al-Mishri for a meeting in Ghadames last week.
This was the second meeting within a week, as a source in the Presidential Council said on January 09 that the Menfi met with Haftar in Cairo.
Commenting on the tripartite meeting; the media advisor to Saleh, Fathi Al-Maryami, said in a press statement that the results of the Cairo meetings had not been disclosed, expecting that they would include agreeing to hold presidential and parliamentary elections according to a specific timetable after agreeing on a constitutional document regarding the file of dual nationals and the military leaders’ candidacy.
He added that the outcomes of the Cairo meeting are also expected to confirm the need for strict security arrangements to protect polling centers.
Sources close to Saleh had said earlier that he agreed to meet with Menfi under Egyptian pressure and mediation, especially since the relationship between the two men was severely damaged because Saleh accused Menfi’s brother of orchestrating the storming of the House of Representatives’ headquarters in Tobruk last July and tampering with its files.
