Egypt’s parliament on Monday approved deploying the armed forces to combat militias outside the western borders.
A closed-door session was held to discuss an important topic, according to what House of Representatives Speaker Ali Abdelaal announced after the morning session ended.
Abdelaal said during Monday’s plenary session that the parliament has the right to hold a secret session at the request of the president, the prime minister and the parliament speaker, or according to a request submitted by 20 MPs.
Al-Sayyed al-Sherif, Undersecretary of the House of Representatives, said on Sunday that all MPs support the Egyptian government in a military intervention in Libya with no opposition to any decisions made in this regard.
The Libyan parliament earlier in July granted the Egyptian armed forces the right to intervene in the country’s ongoing conflict to protect Libyan and Egyptian national security.
The decision allows Egypt to intervene if the Egyptian armed forces see an imminent threat to the security of the two countries.
The parliament announced that it welcomes the statement made by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regarding military intervention in Libya, and called for concerted efforts between the two countries to ensure the defeat of invading occupiers and to preserve national security and stability in the region.
Egypt is working towards a ceasefire at Libya’s eastern and western borders, while also preparing to launch comprehensive political settlement negotiations under the auspices of the UN and to implement the resolutions of the Berlin Conference and the recently announced “Cairo Declaration“, backed by Khalifa Haftar and Libya’s parliamentary speaker Aguila Saleh.
Sisi also moved to raise the Egyptian army’s level of military readiness to carry out operations in Egypt and Libya.
The Cairo Declaration takes into consideration the international resolutions, UN efforts, and Berlin Conference resolutions towards ending the Libyan crisis, Sisi explained, paving the way for the future of Libya following the withdrawal of foreign forces and the dissolution of military militias.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
