Top Arab diplomats boycott summit in Tripoli over legitimacy issues of Libyan government

A handful of top Arab diplomats have boycotted a meeting held on January 22 in the Libyan capital, arguing that the mandate of the Tripoli-based government has ended due to questions over its legitimacy.

According to the Washington Post, five of the 22 member states of the Arab League sent their foreign ministers to the periodic, consultative meeting. They included the chief diplomats of neighboring Algeria and Tunisia, local media reported while others merely sent their envoys to the meeting in Tripoli.

Among the countries boycotting the meeting were Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit. They are questioning the legitimacy of Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah’s government after Libya’s east-based parliament appointed a rival prime minister last year. 

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush responded to this incident by “insisting on full exercise of Libya’s rights” in the Arab League, in reference to the rotating leadership of the pan-Arab organization.

Back in September, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry withdrew from an Arab League session chaired by the Libyan minister, protesting her representing Libya at the pan-Arab summit.