Iran Press/ Africa: Major Arab states boycotted a ministerial meeting hosted by Libya's interim government on Sunday, with just five of the Arab League's 22 members sending their top diplomats and even the bloc's secretary general staying away.
The snub underlines Arab divisions over the Tripoli-based government, whose legitimacy is contested by a rival administration in the war-scarred country's east.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were not represented at all at the gathering -- a preparatory session ahead of a foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo.
Five of the 22 member states of the Arab League sent their foreign ministers to the periodic, consultative meeting Sunday. They included the chief diplomats of neighboring Algeria and Tunisia, local media reported.
Najla al-Mangoush, foreign minister in the Tripoli-based administration, condemned what she called "attempts by certain sides to crush Libyans' desire to transform Arab solidarity into a reality".
Libya, which holds the rotating presidency of the organisation, is "determined to play its role in the Arab League (and) rejects any attempt to politicise the League's founding documents," she said.
Libya fell into a decade of violence following the 2011 overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed rebellion. 219
