Egypt to hold joint Security Council meeting on Libya

CAIRO – 2 June 2017: A joint meeting will be held June 27 between the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), which Egypt chairs, and two other committees that follow and monitor sanctions on the Islamic State (IS) group, al-Qaeda and Libya at the UN headquarters in New York.

Egypt organized the meeting to discuss counter-terrorism challenges in Libya amid Egyptian diplomatic efforts in the UN Security Council following the recent terrorist attacks that hit Egypt.

Ambassador Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations and chair of the CTC, said that the meeting was mandated by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to discuss ways to eliminate terrorism and achieve stability in Libya.

Aboulatta added that the recent Minya attacks were believed to be committed by militants who received training, funding and weapons in terrorist camps located in some areas in the Libyan territories, which threatens Egypt’s national security and Libya’s neighboring countries.

He emphasized the importance of cooperation among the committees and their groups of experts in addressing the grave threats posed by terrorism and the risk of weapons falling into the hands of terrorist groups.

Aboulatta pointed out that Egypt was keen to make the meeting open to the participation of all UN member states, all concerned UN bodies and a number of international and regional organizations, so that everyone could learn about the efforts being exerted to eradicate terrorism in Libya and to achieve stability in the region.

The CTC was formed in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and is tasked with working with member states to prevent terrorist acts both within their borders and across their regions. Egypt was unanimously chosen to head the committee in December 2015, according to the Security Council’s website.

Egypt has been struck by a spate of terrorist attacks in the past few months. The most recent attack was on May 27, when gunmen opened fire on buses that were carrying dozens of children and adults headed to as they were heading on a trip to the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in Upper Egypt’s Minya governorate, killing 29 people and injuring dozens.