President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged Nigeria’s continued
support for Libya’s quest to regain political and security stability.
‘‘We will do our best to help Libya stabilise,’’ the
President told the Head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez
Al-Sarraj, at a bilateral meeting on the margins of the AU Summit in Niamey,
Niger Republic, on Sunday.
The President who discussed recent developments in the North
African country as well as bilateral issues between Nigeria and Libya with Mr.
Al-Sarraj noted that there were over 6000 Nigerians in Libya, who see Libya as
a gateway to Europe.
President Buhari said the humanitarian crisis arising from
insurgency and the drying up of Lake Chad, which has affected over 30 million
people in the region who depend on the Lake for farming, fishing and animal
husbandry has forced some Nigerians to defy the desert to make perilous journeys
across the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert to Europe.
Also, in a separate audience with UN Deputy
Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, President Buhari stressed the role the
international community needed to play in recharging the Lake, noting that the
financial cost was beyond the affected countries.
The President decried the menace of terrorism in the Sahel
countries, noting that the instability in Libya has been a negative force on
the Sahel.
The Head of Libya’s GNA told the President that there had
been a lot of deaths and injuries in his country, pledging however that his
government was determined to put an end to the situation.
‘‘The aggression must stop. The solution is not military
alone we also believe in diplomacy. We are also victims of terrorism, just like
Nigeria,’’ he said.
Al-Sarraj declared that Libya contributed a lot to the
establishment and survival of the AU, adding that it was now time for Africa to
reciprocate.
On her part, the Deputy Secretary-General told the President
that growing security challenges in Africa were adversely affecting development
and undermining the attainment of Sustaining Development Goals (SDGs).
She said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host the
SDGs Summit during the high-level week of the 74th Session of the General
Assembly in September, and will use the occasion to call for a road map for a
decade of delivery of the sustainable development targets.
The Deputy Secretary-General also congratulated President
Buhari for signing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement
at the AU Summit in Niamey, saying ‘‘the entire world was waiting for Nigeria.’
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