by Marwa Yahya

ASWAN, Egypt, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry highlighted that solving the Libyan crisis will have a great impact on achieving stability and encouraging investments in African and Mediterranean countries.

"The Libyan crisis has been pressing during the few past years the Libyan people who suffered instability due to the military conflicts and the absent of the state institutions that should provide services," Shoukry told Xinhua in a recently exclusive interview.

The security vacuum in Libya caused the spread of terrorist groups and the illegal migration, he said.

Infiltration of terrorist elements to Libya amid chaotic conditions also opens more channels for terrorists to move to other African countries, the Egyptian foreign minister explained on the sideline of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development which kicked off on Wednesday in the upper Egyptian city of Aswan.

He voiced the importance of "solving the Libyan crisis which will pave the road for achieving stability in north Africa, Sahel and western African countries and even regional countries at the Mediterranean Sea."

The Libyan people have suffered for long years of conflicts and their sufferings have to be ended, he said.

He also pointed out it is an essential matter to eliminate negative interventions in the domestic affairs of Libya via countries and organizations that only seek expanding their influence and spreading extremist thoughts in a way that doesn't meet the aspirations of the Libyan people.

Libya suffered a state of unrest since the fall of President Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, with multiple factions currently fighting in a civil war.

Egypt that has its longest borders with Libya is concerned about the smuggling of weapons and infiltrations of terrorists from its neighbor.

Meanwhile Shoukry said the Egyptian efforts to settle the Libyan issues are connected with the international path, adding Egypt constantly contacts with the United Nations envoy to restore stability in the conflict-torn country.

He called on the world major players and the permanent members in the UN Security Council to set a comprehensive solution that could tackle all aspects of the Libyan issue especially terrorism and arms ban.

He said the forum in Aswan came in light of joint efforts to preserve peace, solve the disputes with African hands to achieve development.

"We seek to limit the scale of disputes and conflicts in Africa to stop bloodshed," Shoukry added. Enditem

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