Algeria bets on an alliance with Tunisia and Egypt to solve the Libyan crisis

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has expressed his willingness to form an alliance with Libya's two other neighbours, Tunisia and Egypt, to find a solution to the civil war that has plagued the North African nation since 2011. "I have no problem in working with the two brother countries to find a way out of the Libyan crisis ... the results obtained in Mali can be reproduced in Libya," the president said in an interview with the local press agency, APS. "Algeria's priority is to find a solution to the Libyan conflict," the president reaffirmed, leaving the door open for meetings with his counterparts Kais Saied and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. "After these statements, we should expect consultations between Algiers, Tunis and Cairo and possibly a visit by Libyan officials to these three capitals, unless certain foreign protagonists, especially Turkey, oppose and prevent work on an inter-Libyan solution facilitated by the neighbouring countries," Kapitalis explained from the local media.

In fact, this Saturday, the president of the Libyan Parliament, controlled by the Government of National Unity (GNA), led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, Aguila Saleh, has traveled to the Algerian capital to meet with Tebboune and the Algerian Foreign Minister, Sabri Boukadoum. As TSA Algérie reports, although nothing has yet leaked out of the talks, "everything indicates that they have been held to discuss the Algerian plan for the solution of the Libyan crisis", a roadmap that envisages inter-Libyan negotiations in Algiers, the establishment of a National Transition Council (CNT), and the election of a president and a provisional government, until elections are held. 

According to the publication, "Algiers is in a good position to organize negotiations between the GNA and Marshal Haftar [commander of the rival Libyan National Liberation Army, or LNA]" because "he offers guarantees of being 'equidistant' from the actors in the conflict who are waging 'a war of power'. 

"With regard to what is happening in Libya, our fundamental principle that we have clearly expressed is that the resolution of the conflict cannot be military and that all states, including the powerful ones, should adhere to Algeria's plan and approach," Tebboune reiterated.

The Algerian president, however, made no reference in his speech to the peace initiative presented by Egypt last week, which included a cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of foreign mercenaries fighting in the civil war. Al-Sisi, who also advocates a political rather than a military solution to the Libyan conflict, has shown his willingness to lead the mediation between the two sides, but Tebboune believes that his position is more advantageous and that Algeria is "the ideal mediator for a real political resolution, i.e. respect for the territorial unity of the Libyan people". According to the TSA, which takes up the presidentialist line, the Egyptian plan has some limitations, such as that it expressly seeks to "save" Marshal Jaftar above all other issues. In addition, the support of the Gulf monarchies, such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to Al-Sisi's initiative, corrupts, in some way, the search for a pure solution to the conflict, since "their interests in the region underlie other geostrategic problems".

Already in January, Tebboune, who had just taken up his post, assured that his country was ready "to host the long-awaited dialogue between the Libyan brothers", while stressing the actions that Algeria had undertaken in the search for the stabilisation of Libya: "We encourage the parties to join the process of dialogue, sponsored by the United Nations and accompanied by the African Union (AU), with a view to forming a government of national understanding capable of managing the transition and the reconstruction of the institutions of the Libyan state to meet the challenges facing the people," he said at the time. "Libya's security is an extension of our own security," so "the best way to preserve our regional security remains cooperation and mutual assistance with our neighbors in dealing with terrorism and extremism," he added. 

Three actors are currently negotiating a solution to the Libyan crisis: Algeria, Egypt and the group of countries formed by Turkey, Russia and Iran, which are meeting on Sunday.