President Kais Saied of Tunisia has appointed Al-Asad Al-Ajili as an ambassador to Libya to be based in Tripoli.
This is the first the country will be sending an envoy to Libya since 2014.
The Tunisian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said that the appointment of the ambassador comes as part of the annual diplomatic appointments.
Tunisia also appointed a number of ambassadors to Arab and international countries including Muhammad bin Yusuf as Tunisia’s ambassador to Cairo, Nabil Ammar as ambassador to Brussels, Reza Zqidan as ambassador to Baghdad, and Hashemi Ajili as ambassador to Kuwait.
Tunisia had closed its Tripoli embassy in October 2014, and its Consulate General in July 2015, as a result of deteriorating security conditions and the kidnapping of Tunisian diplomats by suspected Libyan militants and extremists.
Tunisia summoned its, then, ambassador Rida Bukadi over the kidnap of two Tunisian diplomats in Libya.
The Tunisian embassy and consulate were reopened in April 2016 without appointing an ambassador based in Libya.
In 2018, Tawfiq Al-Kasimi was appointed as a consul in Libya.
Last week, Kais Saied and Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Libya, Stephanie Williams, discussed UN’s efforts to achieve a political settlement in Libya.
According to a statement released by the Tunisian presidency, its President expressed his country’s readiness to contribute to relaunching the political process in Libya by hosting a national dialogue that brings together the various components of the Libyan people.
Saied stressed that the solution to the Libyan crisis should be based on the agreement of all its factions away from any foreign interference.
He reiterated Tunisia’s commitment not to interfer in Libya’s internal affairs and to finding peaceful solutions to end the bloodshed in the Libya under the aegis of the UN.
