Libya in a state of isolation

Libya's Tripoli-based administration Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush descends an escalator during a meeting with other Arab chief diplomats in the capital of Tripoli, on Sunday. She is followed by Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Libya Abdoulaye Bathily, and representatives from Qatar and Sudan. The gathering was boycotted by other foreign ministers who do not recognize the mandate of the Tripoli-based government. [Yousef Murad/AP]

The failure to hold a consultative meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in the Libyan capital is seen as evidence of the diplomatic isolation of the Tripoli government, even among Arab states. 

Indicatively, of the 22 countries in the Arab League, 15 did not attend, and neither did its secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit. 

The foreign ministers who boycotted the meeting argued that the mandate of the Tripoli-based government has ended.

Egypt, which is among the most significant countries that were absent, questions the legitimacy of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's government after Libya's east-based parliament appointed a rival premier last year. 

The snub to the event organized by the minister of foreign affairs in the Tripoli government, Najla Mangoush, last Sunday, is, according to experienced observers, a clear manifestation of...

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