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| Africa North | |
| Egypt rejects Gaddafi request for military help | |
| 2011-03-14 | |
| [Asharq al-Aswat] A Libyan diplomatic source has revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that that the official in charge of provisions and supplies in the Libyan Army, abruptly left Cairo for Libya last Thursday after a quick 24-hour visit. According to the source which spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, for fear of being dumped into an Egyptian prison, which is like a Turkish prison but without the fine cuisine... the Libyan envoy Maj. Gen Abdul-Rahman al-Sid met with members of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces, but not with Field Marshal Tantawi, chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, so he got spitballed, in other words... who assumed power in Egypt after the fall of the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak Octogenarian Egyptian politician, prior to that air force commander. He served as the fourth President-for-Life of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. He assumed the presidency in 1981, following the liquidation of Anwar Sadat. He was dumped after 18 days of demonstrations, which at one point featured a camel charge by his supporters, during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. On 11 February, Vice President Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned in favor of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Mubarak and his family left the presidential palace by a side door and moved to Sharm el-Sheikh, while the new regime started trying to follow the money trail. The source added: "The Egyptian officials handed the Libyan envoy a written message in a closed envelope, and he immediately left Cairo for home along with Ali Marya, the Libyan ambassador to Cairo. It appears that the Libyan envoy's mission was not successful." It is not clear whether Field Marshal Tantawi's failure to meet with the Libyan envoy was a political stance expressing his rejection of the way Qadaffy is dealing with the Libyan people, or because he had other urgent engagements. He might have been waxing his mustache...
Libyan oppositionists and dissidents told Asharq Al-Awsat that Colonel Qadaffy sought to persuade the Egyptian authorities to supply his forces with weapons and ammunition to make up for shortages faced by his forces, which have been waging fierce battles in various Libyan cities for three weeks against revolutionaries. They pointed out that Qadaffy also sought to persuade the Egyptian authorities to control the Egyptian-Libyan border region and prevent oppositionists in the eastern region of Libya from acquiring any types of supplies. Sources close to the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Egyptian Army turned down a request by Qadaffy to assist him militarily in the war he is launching against his opponents. They however declined to clarify the type and nature of the assistance he requested. These sources said: "The Egyptians told Qadaffy's envoy that Egypt was not a party to what is happening in Libya on the grounds that current developments in Libya are domestic affairs." These sources pointed out that they were familiar with the thinking of the Egyptian Army commands, and that they will not allow involving the armed forces in any dispute beyond the Egyptian border. The Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces has only casually commented on current developments in Libya, announcing that it put up camps in the border region with Libya to shelter and help returnees from Libya. And maybe arm them... An official in the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council said that the council is aware that the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces has no desire to take a tougher stand against Qadaffy's regime because of fear of the possibility of the Libyan regime taking punitive measures against thousands of Egyptian workers in Libya. It is to be recalled that the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed forces had earlier refrained from criticizing a statement by Saif-al-Islam Qadaffy, the second son of Colonel Qadaffy, in which he accused Egypt of involvement of what he described as a malicious conspiracy against his country. However, The emphatic However... former Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Ghayt denounced Saif-al-Islam's statement, regarding it as provocative and offensive. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 I wouldn't worry about it, as iff Muammar survives + succeeds in de facto controlling the majority or all of Libyuh's major Ports + Oil-Gas fields, POST-JASMINE EGYPT WILL COME TO HIM FOR HELP IN ALLEVIATING EGYPT'S ECON WOES. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-03-14 02:11 |