Egypt says Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan has paid a visit to the capital, Cairo, amid a diplomatic row between the two countries after militants in Libya abducted Egyptian diplomats over a week ago.


In a statement issued on Saturday, Egypt’s presidential spokesman, Ehab Badawi, said during his visit, Zidan had reassured interim President Adly Mansour that the five Egyptian hostages, who were freed on January 27, would safely return to their home country.

Armed assailants kidnapped four Egyptian diplomats and an embassy employee late on January 24 and 25 in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The incident forced Cairo to evacuate its embassy in Tripoli and consulate in Benghazi.

On January 27, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdul Razak al-Grady said all five Egyptian diplomats had been released. The Libyan government said that the Egyptian officials had been kidnapped in retaliation for the arrest of a Libyan militia commander by Egypt’s authorities.

During his visit to Cairo, the Libyan prime minister also held talks with his Egyptian interim counterpart, Hazem el-Beblawi, who stressed that the abduction of diplomats would not affect bilateral ties between the two neighboring African countries.

More than two years after the fall of former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, in a popular revolution, Libya is still plagued by lawlessness and insecurity with armed groups flexing their muscles.

Egypt also plunged into a fresh wave of politicial crisis on July 3, 2013, when the country’s powerful military ousted the first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi. Hundreds of people have been killed in the violence that erupted following Morsi’s removal.