Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and US President Donald Trump agreed on Monday on the need to maintain a ceasefire in Libya and avoid an escalation between the forces fighting there, Egypt's presidency said. Sisi and Trump spoke by telephone as Egypt's parliament went into a closed session, the assembly's Speaker, Ali Abdelaal, told reporters but gave few details. Egyptian media said lawmakers authorized the deployment of troops outside the country after the president threatened military action against Turkish-backed forces in Libya. "The House of Representatives unanimously approved deploying members of the Egyptian armed forces on combat missions outside the country's borders, to protect Egyptian national security... against criminal armed militias and foreign terrorist elements," the parliament said in a statement after its closed session. Sisi said last week Egypt would not stand idle in the face of what he called threats to Egyptian and Libyan security. Egypt is concerned about instability in Libya and Turkey's support for the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, whose fighters have moved closer to the central city of Sirte in the hope of recapturing it from the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar. Sirte is the gateway to oil exporting ports which are held by the LNA and Sisi last month declared the Sirte frontline a red line for Egypt, which supports Haftar alongside the United Arab Emirates and Russia. Turkish support for the internationally recognized government's forces has contributed to the LNA abandoning its 14-month offensive on Tripoli, a setback for Haftar's plan to unify Libya by force. A big escalation in Libya could risk igniting a direct conflict among the foreign powers that have poured in weapons and fighters in violation of an arms embargo. Sisi and Trump also discussed Ethiopia's planned Blue Nile dam, the Egyptian presidency said. Cairo is worried that Ethiopia will start filling the dam without an agreement with Cairo and Sudan, which would also be affected. — Agencies
