African Union brings its Tripoli office back to life

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union Commission, spent this week in Tripoli focused on people and institutions reconnecting. The AUC chief formally reopened the African Union’s liaison office in the Libyan capital, walked through premises set aside for a national office of the AU development agency, Nepad, and sat down with acting Foreign Minister El-Taher El-Baour and other senior Libyan officials. The message from both sides was practical: the continental body is returning to Libya, and Libya wants to be seen working with it.

The timing matters for Libyans watching their country’s diplomatic standing. In December, Tripoli will host the fourth Africa-Türkiye summit, a two-day gathering starting on December 8 that will bring together African leaders and Turkish officials. The Libyan foreign ministry said the talks with Youssouf focused on strengthening coordination with the AU Commission to make the summit a success. For a country that has spent years rebuilding its international relationships, the chance to welcome heads of state and government to its own capital carries real weight.

Meanwhile, the conversations between El-Baour and Youssouf went beyond the summit itself. They covered Libya’s relations with the African Union, developments across the continent, and cooperation at regional and international forums. They also discussed preparations for Libya to host a meeting of the African Union’s Committee of Ten, known as the C10, on reform of the United Nations Security Council, scheduled for Tripoli on 10 and 11 October.

The reopened liaison office is intended to do more than symbolise a return. The AU said it would support closer cooperation with Libya in areas including peace and security, governance, youth and women’s empowerment, counterterrorism and efforts against transnational organised crime. Those are areas with direct consequences for Libyans’ daily lives, from security on the streets to opportunities for young people and women. The Libyan government has portrayed the renewed AU presence as part of a broader effort to increase the country’s engagement in African affairs and strengthen direct coordination with continental institutions.

The December summit will be the fourth of its kind. Three editions have been held so far: Türkiye hosted the inaugural summit in Istanbul in 2008, the second took place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in 2014, and the third returned to Istanbul in 2021. Three ministerial conferences have also been convened, with Istanbul hosting the first two in 2011 and 2018, followed by Djibouti in 2024. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said earlier this year that the Tripoli summit would represent the next major milestone in Türkiye’s partnership with Africa.

That partnership has grown quickly over more than two decades, and its effects are visible in cities across the continent. Ankara’s presence accelerated after Türkiye adopted its Africa Action Plan in the late 1990s and deepened further after the African Union recognised Türkiye as a strategic partner in 2008, the same year the first Türkiye-Africa Summit was held in Istanbul. Türkiye now operates 44 embassies across Africa, compared with 12 in 2002, while 38 African countries maintain embassies in Ankara, according to the Turkish foreign ministry.

The relationship extends well beyond embassies. Fidan said in April that bilateral trade with Africa had grown to $36.6 billion and that Turkish Airlines served 64 destinations across the continent. Türkiye’s Cooperation and Coordination Agency, TİKA, operates 22 offices in Africa. Other Turkish institutions, including the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, the Turkish Red Crescent and the Maarif Foundation, have expanded activities in humanitarian aid, development and education. Economic ties were reinforced through platforms such as the fifth Türkiye-Africa Business and Economic Forum, held in Istanbul in October 2025, which brought together government and business representatives from Türkiye and African countries.

Security and diplomacy have become increasingly important elements of Türkiye’s Africa policy as well. Ankara has expanded defence cooperation with several African states through training, capacity building and defence-sector partnerships, while also seeking a role as a diplomatic facilitator in regional disputes. The most prominent example has been Türkiye’s mediation between Somalia and Ethiopia after tensions between the two Horn of Africa neighbours. That process culminated in the Ankara Declaration of December 2024, when Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed, with Turkish facilitation, to reaffirm respect for each other’s sovereignty and pursue negotiations over Ethiopia’s access to the sea under Somali sovereign authority. Technical talks continued under Turkish facilitation in 2025.

For Libya, hosting the December summit offers an opportunity to reinforce its own ties with the African Union and reassert its place in continental diplomacy at a time when Tripoli is seeking greater engagement with African institutions. Taken together, the reopening of the AU Liaison Office, the preparations for the C10 meeting on UN Security Council reform and the forthcoming Türkiye-Africa Partnership Summit point in the same direction: a renewed Libyan push to position itself more actively within Africa’s diplomatic architecture, and a partnership between Türkiye and the continent that continues to widen. Whether the Tripoli summit in December delivers concrete gains for ordinary Libyans, from jobs to security, will be the measure of how far this diplomatic reopening actually reaches.