Libya's Military Comm. Lauds Egypt for Hosting Talks on Mercenary Withdrawal

On Monday, the 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission (JMC) thanked Egypt for hosting two-day talks to withdraw foreign forces from the North African country ahead of national elections next month.

The meeting, which ended yesterday, brought together representatives from Sudan, Chad, and Niger to discuss the troop withdrawal. This comes a day after Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met up with the UN Special Envoy to Libya, Jan Kubis, in Cairo.

The commission also announced that it had reached an agreement with Sudan, Chad, and Niger to withdraw their mercenaries and foreign fighters from Libyan territory.

Notably, the Military Commission launched on Saturday a new round of UN-sponsored talks in Egypt's capital Cairo to discuss plans for the pullout of foreign forces.

After the meeting held in Geneva on Oct. 8, the JMC signed a comprehensive Action Plan for the gradual, balanced, and sequenced withdrawal of mercenaries, foreign fighters, and foreign forces from Libyan territory.

The work of the 5+5 JMC, or the security track, is one of the three intra-Libyan tracks that the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) is working on, along with the economic and political tracks.