Egyptian President in UAE For Talks With Top Officials

Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, reportedly arrived in the United Arab Emirates yesterday to attend meetings with some of the country’s top officials, as well as other, big-name players in Africa.

El-Sisi will reportedly also meet with Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), which is backed by the United Nations’ Security Council.

In contrast to that, el-Sisi is reportedly set to meet with marshall Khalifa Haftar, who is the principal commander of the opposition in Libya. Haftar is very outspoken against the Government of National Accord in Libya and refuses to recognise it as a valid government.

However, both Egypt and the UAE are allies of Haftar.

Haftar has also reportedly met with al-Sarraj in Abu Dhabi.

Libya has been in the midst of a civil war for years, which intensified in 2016 and after the formation of the GNA.

It is also believed that el-Sisi will meet with UAE investors, as he was accompanied on his trip to the country by Egypt’s foreign and investment ministers.

The UAE is one of the main donors to Egypt’s central bank and has given Egypt $5 billion in aid thus far.

The other gulf countries, including the UAE, have given Egypt over $20 billion in aid over the past year. Most of the countries who provided aid to Egypt supported el-Sisi’s overthrow of former president, Mohamed Morsi.

No official statement has been released regarding the exact focus of al-Sisi’s meetings with Haftar and al-Sarraj.