By AFP

TRIPOLI: Tunisia and Egypt want a united Libya and reject calls for federalism for their neighbor, the Tunisian foreign minister was quoted as saying on Sunday.

“Tunisia and Egypt share the goal of preserving national unity, security and stability in Libya,” the official LANA new agency quoted Rafik Abdessalem as saying.

At a meeting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi last Tuesday attended by thousands, tribal and political leaders unilaterally declared the region of Cyrenaica autonomous, raising fears the country might split up.

Thousands of people demonstrated across Libya on Friday against the proposed secession of the oil-rich region, a move that was sharply condemned by the interim government in Tripoli.

“The unilateral announcement of Berqa (or Cyrenaica) made by some groups was rejected both by the Libyan elite and the Libyan people in general,” Abdessalem said after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo.

“One of the lessons drawn from our experience of the Tunisian revolution and the subsequent Egyptian revolution is that Arab politics are closely interwoven and that we influence each other,” he said.

“The security and stability of Libya concerns us all as Arabs and as neighboring countries,” the foreign minister said.