World

Egypt Reopens Tripoli Embassy, Signaling Shift in Libya Policy

By Mohammad Mansour

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reopened the Egyptian embassy in Tripoli on Saturday, a move that analysts say marks a fundamental political shift for Libya. The embassy had been closed for 12 years because of security concerns. Libya has been politically divided since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with rival administrations in Tripoli in the west and in Tobruk and Benghazi in the east. Egypt was widely seen as backing the eastern authority, led by Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA), until recent regional developments prompted Cairo to rethink its approach.

Libyan political analyst Hazem al‑Rayes said the reopening of the embassy in the seat of the internationally recognised government that Haftar was fighting signals a readjustment of Egypt’s behaviour in the Libyan file. "For five years, no Egyptian foreign minister visited the capital," he told Al Jazeera.

Elias al‑Barouni, a political science professor at Nalut University, added that the move goes beyond resuming consular services. "We are facing an indicator of a shift in Cairo’s method of managing its relations with the Libyan parties, and a rearrangement of its priorities in dealing with the Libyan crisis," he said.

Several political and regional shifts have somewhat stabilised the volatile situation in Libya, where thousands have been killed in fighting between militias attached to rival political authorities. In July 2026, Ankara and the LNA reached unprecedented coordination, spearheading agreements to develop military facilities, advanced surveillance systems, and training programmes in Turkey for eastern Libyan officers. Haftar’s son, Saddam Haftar, has also visited regional capitals, including Turkey and Qatar, which support the United Nations‑recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

In Libya, rivals recently signed the "4+4 agreement" that sets out a roadmap for possible presidential and legislative elections over the next two years. Badr Hassan al‑Shafei, a professor of African studies and conflict resolution at Cairo University, told Al Jazeera that Egypt revisited its policy after realizing that its reliance on eastern forces was not conducive to its strategic interests. "Cairo found that relying on one party or leaning towards one party in Libya may not be the right bet, especially after the Turkish intervention several years ago," he said.

Egypt has also become more concerned about developments to the south of its border, particularly the expansion of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, which had allegedly received support from Haftar. "Today, Egypt is no longer the Egypt of five years ago when its policies and relations were limited only to the eastern authorities in Benghazi," al‑Rayes told Al Jazeera.

During Abdelatty’s visit, he discussed critical economic files with Libyan officials, including the 2019 maritime border memorandum of understanding signed between Tripoli and Ankara. The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Facebook page confirmed Abdelatty’s reaffirmation of the importance of addressing Egyptian concerns regarding maritime demarcation between Libya and Turkey in light of international law. The eastern parliament recently ratified the maritime agreement, which it had initially opposed.

Al‑Shafei said Cairo may be trying to prevent the ratification of the agreement from damaging its interests in gas and oil exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, and that it wants to extend bridges to Tripoli. "Instead of limiting itself to political and diplomatic objection from outside Tripoli, Cairo has become negotiating directly with the Libyan government that signed the agreement," he said.

Egypt might also be attracted to opportunities that reconstruction and the revival of Libya’s oil industry could bring. "Perhaps with the reconstruction process, the incoming Egyptian labour will have priority, or even the currently present one will have its living conditions improved, not to mention the idea of the possibility of Egyptian investments and companies entering the reconstruction process," al‑Shafei added.

After years of backing rival sides, a new regional consensus means there is a greater likelihood of Libya’s rivals reaching a comprehensive agreement to end the war, al‑Rayes told Al Jazeera. Al‑Barouni cautioned that there is still a plethora of issues facing Libya, and only a comprehensive solution can end the divisions within the country. "The Libyan problem is not merely a dispute over the name of the head of government, but rather it is a dispute over the nature of power, the distribution of influence, control over institutions and resources, the future of the military institution, and the conditions for reaching elections," he said. "If Cairo, Ankara, Washington, and other capitals agree on the necessity of ending the division, that is a development that can be built upon, but the success of any settlement remains linked to the ability of the Libyans to formulate an independent national project. Libya needs a settlement that ends the division, not a deal that redistributes the division."