Egypt proposes disarming Libyan militias

CAIRO (Xinhua) - An Egyptian proposal to disarm competing Libyan militias will be discussed here at a meeting of foreign ministers of Libya's neighboring countries, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said on Monday.

"Egypt proposes restoring the role of the country, and disarming competing militias simultaneously and without discrimination," Shoukri said while speaking at the opening session of the meeting.

The meeting comes two days after Egypt denied reports claiming that Egyptian warplanes raided positions held by armed Islamist militias in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday.

Foreign ministers of Algeria, Chad, Sudan, and Tunisia, and a senior official from Niger are also present at the closed-door meeting, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported.

The meeting seeks to discuss all possible initiatives and proposals to support the Libyans to regain their security, stability and rebuild the country's institutions, Shoukri added.

"We have felt the direct effects of the escalating Libyan situation on the security of neighboring countries through the presence of extremist and terrorist elements which extended to other countries through arms dealing and trafficking," Shoukri said.

"This affects the sovereignty of neighboring countries and threatens their stability. This could affect the interests of other countries outside the region and could lead to forms of intervention in Libyan affairs, which should be avoided."

Meanwhile, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz stressed the necessity of the international community's intervention, but not necessarily military.

Forms of intervention are a lot as Libya doesn't have the capabilities to neither protect its institutions, airports nor the wealth resources, oil in particular, Abdelaziz said on the sidelines of the meeting.

Libya asked for outside intervention and international assistance to prevent the crisis from extending to neighboring countries, he added.

"The intervention isn't necessarily military," but the international community could train the Libyan troops, to make the Libyan army more ready to combat the armed elements and build a wide political process for democratic transition, added Abdelaziz.

The top Libyan diplomat added that his country awaits a United Nations Security Council resolution that would send a "strong message" to end the fighting in Libya.

"There should be an effective dialogue in addition to international involvement in the long run to reconstruct the country's institutions," he said.

He stressed the importance of political coordination with the Egyptian side in particular as "the escalating security situation in Libya has a negative effect on Egypt's national security."

He also denied Egyptian military intervention in Libya, asserting that Egypt pursues political solution to the crisis.

On Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said no Egyptian armed forces were involved in any military operation inside Libya.

Islamists in Libya claimed that Egypt along with the United Arab Emirates were behind the recent airstrikes on their bases around Tripoli airport on Friday night that killed 11 fighters.

The Islamist armed groups were under sporadic airstrikes since the past week, but the identities of the warplanes were still a mystery.