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The head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi, discussed with the head of the intelligence service, Abdel Majeed Maligta, ways to protect national security in light of the political tensions, tensions and divisions that the country is suffering from.

Al-Manfi's office said on Monday that he met with Mlegta, and during the meeting he stressed "the importance of continuing efforts aimed at maintaining national security and enhancing the efficiency of intelligence work," stressing the need to activate the Libyan role in the system of African and international security cooperation in a way that serves the highest interests of the state and supports security and stability.

A dispute broke out within the Presidential Council on June 24, following Al-Manfi’s appointment of Mlegta as successor to Hussein Al-Ayeb, the former head of the agency. This disagreement was represented by Presidential Council member Musa Al-Koni saying that “the powers of the Presidential Council are collective and not individual,” stressing that “all issues related to occupying sovereign and leadership positions do not acquire the status of an official decision unless they are discussed and approved during an official meeting of the Council, and documented in an approved report.”

Al-Manfi's office explained, on Monday, that Maligta briefed the President of the Presidential Council on the latest developments in the security situation at the local level, the progress of the agency's work, and its efforts to follow up on files related to national security, in addition to the results of its participation and meetings at the regional and international levels.

He also briefed Al-Manfi on the results of the meeting of the Executive Committee of the African Security and Intelligence Services Committee (CISA), which was held via video conference under the chairmanship of the head of the Libyan Intelligence Service, in his capacity as head of CISA, and the files he addressed related to strengthening African intelligence coordination and cooperation, and confronting common security challenges and threats.

Al-Manfi's office added that Mliqta's briefing "discussed the results of the head of the agency's participation in the Baku Security Conference in Azerbaijan, and his meetings with his counterparts that discussed strengthening intelligence cooperation, border security, combating terrorism and organized crime, and the repercussions of the regional situation on security and stability."

The Presidential Council suffers from repeated disagreements between its exiled president and his two deputies, Al-Koni and Abdullah Al-Lafi, and they usually issue individual statements related to political issues and their positions on them, including the decision to appoint Mlegta.

Mliqta had been subjected to an assassination attempt on June 14, 2024, by targeting him with an explosive device planted in a car placed in his traffic lane in Tripoli, which resulted in him being injured, before the accused fled to Tunisia. On April 10, the Criminal Court in the capital, Tripoli, ruled to imprison seven convicts with varying sentences for the attempted assassination.

In a different matter, Al-Manfi’s office said that, in his capacity as the Supreme Commander of the Libyan Army, he held a meeting in Tripoli, on Monday, with the Secretary of the Council and the Director of the Office of the Supreme Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Muhammad bin Youssef, devoted to discussing a number of decisions related to the affairs of the army and agencies affiliated with the Council.

The meeting discussed a number of decisions related to organizing the affairs of the Libyan army, in addition to discussing mechanisms for reorganizing the military institution.

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The public scene in Libya opened up to a political escalation, which was crystallized in the Supreme Council of State in Tripoli’s adherence to its position rejecting the outcomes of the “4+4” agreement, in addition to its rejection of some electoral laws issued by the House of Representatives.

The Supreme Council’s position comes ahead of a briefing that the UN envoy to Libya, Hannah Tetteh, intends to present to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

The “4+4” agreement sets a maximum period of 24 months for holding presidential and legislative elections, and approves amendments to candidacy conditions that stipulate allowing the military to participate, and obliging dual nationals to renounce foreign nationality if they win.

Despite this path sponsored by the mission, its implementation faces political obstacles in light of the rejection of the Supreme Council of State.

The month-long deadline set by the mission for the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of State to adopt the “4+4” outcomes before resorting to “alternative options in the event of failure of implementation” has expired. With the approval of the House of Representatives and the rejection of the Supreme Council of State, the political scene has become open to new scenarios that may unfold after Tetteh’s briefing.

The Supreme Council of State said, on Sunday evening, that it had concluded “to reject the directions or arrangements contained in the UN mission’s correspondence regarding the (4+4) path that would bypass the constitutional, legal and consensual frameworks of the political process, or diminish the mandates assigned to the institutions emanating from the Libyan Political Agreement.”

The UN mission did not issue a comment on the Supreme Council of State’s rejection of the outcomes of the agreement, while a source close to Envoy Tetteh told Asharq Al-Awsat that she had intensified efforts to bring the Libyan parties closer together since signing the “4+4” agreement in late August, in preparation for her upcoming briefing before the UN Security Council, noting that she would “present her vision for a solution in light of these complications.”

The Council believes that “any arrangements related to the political or electoral process or the management of the transitional phase will not be legitimate or produce their effects except within the framework of the Constitutional Declaration and its amendments, the Libyan Political Agreement, and in accordance with the mandates established for existing institutions, and in a manner that takes into account the principle of compatibility as required by the constitutional and political frameworks of consensus between the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of State.”

The Council affirms that “the United Nations Mission assumes the role of facilitator and supporter of the political process, within the framework of its mandate, and does not have the authority to establish paths or arrangements that replace Libyan institutions, exceed their jurisdiction, or undermine Libyans’ ownership of their political path.”

The Council said that “in adherence to the principle of institutional consensus, and out of respect for the competencies and procedures decided by the effective constitutional and political frameworks, and out of concern for the integrity of the legislative process for the elections, and to preserve the legitimacy of the electoral entitlement; He rejects laws issued by the House of Representatives related to the election of the National Assembly and the President of the State, and the establishment of the High National Elections Commission and its amendments.

The Supreme Council attributed this rejection to the fact that these laws “were issued individually, and without fulfilling the consensual procedures established between the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of State, in violation of the constitutional and political frameworks governing the political process.”

Despite this, the Supreme Council of State expressed its “commitment to reviving the road map” announced by the mission on August 21, 2025, which the Council had previously approved, and working to resume its course and implement the steps it included.

The escalation by the Supreme Council of State comes in the wake of tension in the capital, Tripoli, on Monday, after a security force closed the headquarters of the House of Representatives in Tripoli to prevent a meeting that was scheduled to be held between the representatives boycotting the election of Al-Salihin Abdel Nabi as Speaker of the Council.

Tariq Al-Ashtar, First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, had gone to the capital to hold a session with the boycotting representatives, but he was unable to do so after the House headquarters was closed.

Egypt and Sudan affirmed the depth of bilateral relations, and the two countries stressed “mutual respect between them, including respect for each country’s sovereignty, unity, and the integrity of its territory and borders,” during a phone call that took place on Monday between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel-Aty and his Sudanese counterpart, Mohieldin Salem.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nader Zaki noted that the two ministers stressed during the call “the depth of Egyptian-Sudanese relations and the historical ties linking the two brotherly peoples of the Nile Valley,” according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

The two ministers agreed on the importance of continuing to work on further developing relations for the benefit of the two countries and peoples in light of the outcomes of the meeting that brought together President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council in Sudan, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, recently, in the city of El Alamein in northwestern Egypt.

The call by the two foreign ministers coincided with the announcement by the Transitional Sovereignty Council in Sudan that it had “formed a fact-finding committee regarding (the painful incident) to which a number of Sudanese miners were exposed in the border region between Egypt and Sudan.”

The Council said in an official statement, on Monday, that “the committee includes representatives of the Public Prosecution and the judicial and security authorities, to investigate the circumstances of the incident and determine all the circumstances and facts related to it.”

Since the beginning of the war in Sudan, in mid-April 2023, Egypt has supported the legitimate institutions in Sudan, led by the Sudanese army, and has called for the necessity of stopping the war and starting a comprehensive political process that brings together the various components of society.

During the phone call, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Sudan stressed “mutual interest in the two countries to strengthen bilateral relations in various fields,” and agreed to “continue coordination and consultation,” and also stressed “the mutual respect that brings the two countries together, including respect for the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of its territories and borders,” according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

The former Egyptian ambassador to Sudan, Hossam Issa, said in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Egyptian government “has constants in dealing with the Sudan file, the most important of which is non-interference in internal affairs, and preserving its unity and territorial sovereignty,” noting that “there is no benefit or interest for the Egyptian authorities in launching attacks on mining areas in Sudanese territory.”

The Egyptian government is taking strict security measures to confront “illegal exploration” for minerals, after the Egyptian army announced, last August, the start of the second phase of a campaign to confront the phenomenon of illegal exploration for gold ore in the Eastern Desert. At the time, he indicated in a statement to the military spokesman that “combing and raiding operations were intensified in areas proven to have carried out such acts.”

The second phase of the security raids came to complete a first phase launched by the Egyptian army against illegal gold ore mining groups. The army reported that during the month of June, “58 incidents of random prospecting for gold ore were seized, 20 metal detectors, 118 electrical machines, and 86 tons of stones mixed with gold ore were seized.”

According to a statement by the Egyptian army spokesman, Colonel Staff Colonel Ahmed Etman, on Monday, “Law enforcement elements from the armed forces and civil police continued to implement the third phase of the massive campaign to confront illegal exploration for gold ore in the Eastern Desert, after throwing warning leaflets at the criminal elements to impose full sovereignty within the borders of the Egyptian state and protect its national capabilities and wealth.” The statement called on “the people of the Nile Valley to obtain information from its official sources, and not to be led by misleading rumors and foreign agendas that target “Destabilizing the fraternal relations between the Egyptian and Sudanese peoples.”

On another level, the foreign ministers of the two countries discussed “ways to implement the outcomes of the (El Alamein Quartet) consultative summit that included the leaders of Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia,” according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Al-Sisi held a consultative summit meeting with the leaders of Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia in the city of New Alamein, last week, to coordinate positions regarding the developments taking place in the Horn of Africa region, and to support the sovereignty and stability of these countries.

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