The Egyptian Foreign Ministry is facing a strange diplomatic problem, as Mohamed Salah al-Dirsi, the acting Libyan ambassador in Cairo who was dismissed by the Libyan government, is fighting to maintain the position after the Libyan government appointed it to Tarek ibn Shoaib.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said Egypt requested the Libyan Foreign Ministry on Tuesday to end the dispute. He denied that this has changed the relationship between the two countries or that the ministry has stopped dealing with the diplomats of the Libyan Embassy.
Dirsi was dismissed one week after taking office against the backdrop of accusations that he squandered public funds of the Libyan Consulate in Alexandria. He prevented Shoaib and his staff from working from the embassy, forcing him to work from the Labor High Commission headquarters in Dokki.
The interim Libyan government of Abdullah al-Thinni asked the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to consider the Labor High Commission headquarters as the official Libyan embassy building, requesting the Egyptian authorities to provide protection to Shoaib. It also noted that all financial transactions should be with Shoaib and his financial controller, Khaled Mansour.
Dirsi also stormed the guest house that Shoaib said would turn into a school for Libyan students in Cairo. His supporters in Libya staged protests in front of the government headquarters in the city of Al-Bayda last week, demanding his official reinstatement.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
