Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said his country offered “absolute support” to Libya when he hosted Libyan President Mohammad Younes Menfi.
Algeria is ready to help Libyans “make their country’s voice heard” and “to bring aid and assistance to Libya … to solve some problems that have arisen,” Tebboune said after a meeting between the two men.
He was quoted in a presidential statement published by Algerian media that did not elaborate on the “problems” he was quoting.
But Libya is struggling to emerge from decades of violence and political rivalries following its decline into chaos in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising by NATO that ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
It currently has an interim government led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and a presidential council led by Menfi, which has promised to hold polls before the end of the year.
If Libya’s national elections scheduled for December are delayed, the war-torn country will return to “square one” and the unrest of 2011, the speaker of parliament said, with a new rival government likely to set up in the east.
Dbeibah had previously called on Algeria to support reconciliation efforts in Libya.
The government was formed earlier this year following a ceasefire in October between the Tripoli-based UN-recognized National Accord Government (GNA) and forces loyal to Putchist General Khalifa Haftar.
Tebboune reaffirmed Algeria’s position on “holding elections that give more legitimacy” to the presidency.
Algiers favors the organization of a “parliamentary and presidential election simultaneously” in Libya, Tebboune said.
Menfi said he was “happy” with Algeria’s support, according to Algeria’s official APS news agency.
The two leaders spoke of “security in southern Libya” where their countries share a border of almost 1,000 kilometers, the Libyan leader said, according to APS.
“We hope to establish technical Algerian-Libyan cooperation together with bilateral security cooperation,” Menfi was quoted as saying.
Algeria, meanwhile, is trying to play a more active role in Libya and the Sahel and recently appointed Ramtane Lamamra, a very experienced mediator, as foreign minister.
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