Dendias: Mangoush “tried to force” meeting by showing up at Tripoli airport

Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, directly accused his Libyan counterpart Najla Mangoush of trying to “force” a meeting between the two of them upon his arrival at Tripoli airport on Thursday.

Dendias arrived at Tripoli airport but refused to disembark from the plane when he realized that waiting to greet him on the tarmac was Mangoush. The Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the incident that Dendias wanted to only meet with the Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed al-Menfi, in Tripoli but not with Mangoush.

This led the Greek top diplomat to cancel the Tripoli part of his trip to Libya and head for Benghazi in the eastern part of the country.

“Today’s visit to Libya, as planned, started from Tripoli, where I was to meet with President Menfi,” Dendias told reporters in Benghazi.

“But the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Transitional Government, Mrs. Mangoush tried to force me with her presence at the airport to meet with her, as a result of which I cut short the visit to Tripoli and we flew to Benghazi, where the program was followed,” he added.

Dendias highlighted that, in Benghazi, he met with Khalifa Haftar, General Commander of the Libya National Army (LNA) and members of Libya’s House of Representatives to discuss on 2019 agreement for the demarcation of maritime borders signed between the Tripoli-based government and Turkey. Both the LNA and the House reject the deal.