TRIPOLI, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Egypt reopened its embassy in Libya’s capital Tripoli on Saturday after a 12-year absence, marking a rapprochement with the country’s western-based administration, the foreign affairs ministry in Cairo said in a statement.
• The move marks a shift for Cairo, which has been one of the most prominent backers of eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar, a rival of the Tripoli-based government
• Egypt closed its Tripoli embassy in 2014, when many foreign missions there closed amid an escalating conflict that saw rival governments set themselves up in the capital and in the east of the huge North African country
• Egypt’s foreign affairs minister Badr Abdelatty was quoted in the statement as saying at the reopening ceremony that the historical significance of the embassy building “aligns with the deep-rooted human and cultural ties that characterize Egyptian-Libyan relations”
• Oil producer Libya has been plunged into chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011
• In Benghazi in eastern Libya there is the Libyan National Army under military commander Khalifa Haftar and the House of Representatives, and a government led by Osama Hammad. In the west there is the internationally recognised Government of National Unity headed by PM Abdulhamid Dbeibah and the High Council of State in Tripoli
(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
