Key facts
- Egypt's foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that Cairo reopened its Tripoli embassy on November 7, 2026.
- The reopening ends a 12-year absence and marks a rapprochement with Libya's western-based administration, the ministry said.
- Cairo has been one of the most prominent backers of eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar, a rival of the Tripoli government.
- Egypt closed the embassy in 2014, when many foreign missions shut amid conflict that produced rival governments in the capital and east.
- Foreign affairs minister Badr Abdelatty said the embassy building's historical significance aligns with Egyptian-Libyan ties.
Egypt reopened its embassy in Libya's capital Tripoli on November 7, 2026, after a 12-year absence, the foreign affairs ministry in Cairo said in a statement. The step marks a rapprochement with Libya's western-based administration.
The move marks a shift for Cairo, which has been one of the most prominent backers of eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar, a rival of the Tripoli-based government. Egypt closed its Tripoli embassy in 2014, when many foreign missions there closed amid an escalating conflict that saw rival governments set themselves up in the capital and in the east of the North African country.
Egypt's foreign affairs minister Badr Abdelatty was quoted in the statement as saying at the reopening ceremony that the historical significance of the embassy building "aligns with the deep-rooted human and cultural ties that characterize Egyptian-Libyan relations."
Oil producer Libya has been in conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. In Benghazi in eastern Libya sit the Libyan National Army under military commander Khalifa Haftar, the House of Representatives and a government led by Osama Hammad. In the west sit the internationally recognised Government of National Unity headed by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah and the High Council of State in Tripoli.