Libya pro-Brotherhood figures to attend Cairo meeting

CAIRO – Some pro-Muslim Brotherhood figures from Libya will attend a Libyan tribal leaders' meeting scheduled to start in Cairo on Monday, an Egyptian newspaper reported on Sunday.

"This is the first time pro-Muslim Brotherhood figures from Libya will attend a meeting in Cairo," the website of the state-owned Ahram newspaper said.

Around 300 Libyan tribal figures are expected to attend the three-day meeting that will seek to find solutions to the crisis in Libya.

Ahram said that Egypt had previously opposed the presence of pro-Muslim Brotherhood figures in Libya's national dialogue talks.

The newspaper added that Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had delivered a message to this effect to Algerian officials during a recent visit to Algeria.

Egyptian authorities have been designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a "terrorist" organisation since December of 2013.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said in a statement that Egypt would host the meeting to aid Libya's "legitimate parliament" in Tobruk and its government to reach consensus.

It added that this would contribute to the success of ongoing United Nations-sponsored dialogue in Libya.

Last month, the UN mission in Libya announced that Egypt would host a meeting of Libyan tribal and military leaders as part of UN-sponsored dialogue talks that aim to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in the North African nation.

This would be the first time for Egypt, which recognises Libya's Tobruk-based parliament and government, to host such dialogue talks.

Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody uprising ended the decades-long rule of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in late 2011.

Since then, the country's stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each with its own institutions and military capacities.

Vying for legislative authority are the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and the General National Congress that convenes in Tripoli.

The two assemblies support two rival governments respectively headquartered in the two cities.