Heads of two Libyan chambers set to meet in Egypt for talks

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) – Head of the Tripoli-based High Council of State (HCS), Khaled al-Mishri, will meet with Libyan Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh in Egypt this week, a council member said Wednesday.

“Al-Mishri will head for Cairo today to meet with Saleh,” he told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

He said the two sides will discuss a host of issues, including the constitutional path, the executive authority and sovereign positions.

"The constitutional committee tasked with preparing the constitutional basis will meet in Cairo after al-Mishri-Saleh meeting,” the council member said.

Earlier this week, the HCS, which acts as a senate, decided to resume dialogue with the Libyan parliament after the assembly retracted a law establishing a constitutional court in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Oil-rich Libya has remained in turmoil since 2011 when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted after four decades in power.

The situation has worsened since last year when the Libyan parliament appointed a new government led by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, but the head of the Tripoli-based government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, said he will cede authority only to a government that comes through an "elected parliament," raising fears that Libya could slip back into a civil war.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report