22nd Session of the CEN-SAD Executive Council Opens in Tripoli

Tripoli session and the reorganization agenda

Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah opened the 22nd regular session of the Executive Council of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) in Tripoli on Saturday, Anadolu reports, citing the Libyan News Agency. The meeting is attended by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Tunisia, Chad, Djibouti, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Guinea-Bissau, as well as heads of delegations from member states. Participants were expected to discuss the reorganization of the bloc, the revitalization of its institutions and the strengthening of regional cooperation. Hanna Tetteh, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' special representative for Libya, was present at the opening, along with ambassadors and staff of diplomatic missions.

Dbeibah's speech: from coordination to joint action

Dbeibah expressed the hope that CEN-SAD would become a regional platform for pooling efforts in response to the political, security and economic challenges of the region. He called for stronger coordination in the fight against terrorism, organized crime and irregular migration, as well as expanded support for border security and regional stability. According to him, the current session is an important stage in strengthening cooperation, and he proposed setting a timetable for completing the transfer of the organization's executive secretariat to its headquarters in Tripoli. Dbeibah stressed the need to move

Talks on the sidelines of the meeting

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced in advance that Minister Badr Abdelatty would hold meetings with senior Libyan officials to discuss revitalizing the organization's mechanisms. On Saturday he met with Chad's Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah: the sides discussed bilateral relations, regional issues, as well as ways to strengthen CEN-SAD's role, revive its institutions and expand cooperation in counterterrorism, capacity building and development.

Context: the return to Tripoli

CEN-SAD was established in Tripoli on February 4, 1998, and unites 28 African countries from the Sahara and Sahel regions; the organization holds observer status at the UN. After the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the secretariat was moved from Tripoli to N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. In April, Tripoli hosted the bloc's meeting for the first time since 2011 — thus, Dbeibah's demand for a timetable for relocating the executive committee concerns restoring the original location of the headquarters, which was changed after the fall of Gaddafi's regime. Sources have not yet reported on the decisions adopted at the session.