CAIRO, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi stressed on Thursday his country's support for empowering Libyan institutions to be able to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

Sisi made the remarks during his meeting with President of the Libyan Presidency Council Mohamed al-Menfi in Cairo, where they discussed the latest developments of the Libyan political scene.

The Egyptian president affirmed "Egypt's support for all efforts aimed at protecting Libya's territorial integrity, reinforcing its institutions and empowering them to fulfill their role in achieving the goal of holding presidential and parliamentary elections," according to the statement.

For his part, al-Menti hailed Egypt's commitment to promoting comprehensive national reconciliation in Libya and its keenness on unifying Libya's institutions to help restore stability in the country.

During the meeting, the two sides reiterated the importance of "the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Libya."

Libya has been locked in political and military chaos since the 2011 ouster and death of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The situation escalated in 2014, splitting power between two rival governments: a UN-backed one in the capital Tripoli, northwestern Libya, and another in the northeastern city of Tobruk allied with eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Due to political differences between rival factions, Libya failed to hold the long-awaited presidential and parliamentary elections that were scheduled for December 2021.

In August 2023, key Libyan officials including al-Menfi, Haftar, and Aguila Saleh, the speaker of the eastern-based Libyan House of Representatives, reached an agreement during a meeting in Benghazi to accelerate the holding of the country's elections. Enditem

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