Trump reluctantly meets Libyan PM

Head of the Libyan Presidency Council (PC) Fayez Al-Sarraj was able to secure a meeting with a reluctant US President Donald Trump in Riyadh on Sunday, according to the Libya Herald.

The two met whilst the American Islamic States Summit was being held in Riyadh even though Trump did not want to meet the Tripoli-based leader because he did not wanted to discuss Libya.

According to the PC’s media office, during the meeting Trump reaffirmed America’s full support for Libya in its battle against terrorism and praised Al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord in defeating Daesh.

Trump also reiterated the agreement that the two sides should continue to cooperate and hold future meetings.

Read: Trump visits Saudi Arabia

At the summit, Al-Sarraj spoke of the need to destroy terrorism in the world by joint action against terrorist organisations with whom there could be no negotiations in addition to confronting radical ideologies.

To prevent the regrouping of Daesh following its defeat in cities including Sirte, Al-Sarraj launched a fresh appeal to end the arms embargo so that the Libyan army and security forces could deal with “this cancer”.

Al-Sarraj also appealed to the international community to put pressure on countries which interfered in Libya’s affairs.

You have to stop your negative interference.

Days before his visit, Libya’s foreign minister allegedly sacked the Libyan Ambassador to Riyadh, Abdulbasit Elbadri, due to his close links to rival leader Khalifa Haftar.