A diplomatic incident took place during the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Nikos Dendias, to Libya. Specifically, the Greek Foreign Minister landed in Tripoli where he was received by the Libyan Foreign Minister, Naila Mangous, instead of the Prime Minister. The Libyan Foreign Minister’s term has officially expired and the Greek government does not recognize her jurisdiction to proceed with international agreements. The Libyan Foreign Minister agreed the other day on the implementation of the illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum with the Turkish Foreign Minister.

This act was seen by Greece as Libya’s fait accompli against Mr. Dendias. The answer of the Greek Foreign Minister was that no one will impose on the Greek Minister who he will or will not meet. Mr. Dendias did not get off the government plane and canceled his visit to Tripoli. Subsequently, when the government aircraft attempted to take off from Tripoli for Benghazi, Tripoli refused to give the aircraft permission to fly, resulting in a one-and-a-half-hour delay. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a brief announcement states the following: “The visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, to Tripoli, where he was supposed to meet with President Menfi, was canceled as the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs violated the agreement regarding the arrangement of not meeting with the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Eastern Libya visit continues normally.”

Also read: UN | The Libyan government cannot sign agreements