Libya: New Government of National Unity sworn in before Parliament in Tobruk

Prime Minister Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba and all the members of his Government of National Unity took the legal oath of office in front of the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk this Monday march 15.

The solemn oath ceremony was held at the parliament’s headquarters in the eastern city of Tobruk and broadcast by Libyan tv channels.

The President of the Supreme Court, the Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, the President and Deputies of the Presidency Council, the President of the High State Council, and a number of ambassadors attended the ceremony.

According to a statement by the parliament spokesman Abdullah Belhaq, the event was attended by ambassadors of the United Sates, the United Kingdom, France, and Turkey, as well as by EU and UN special envoys to Libya and chiefs of diplomatic missions of a number of countries, including Morocco’s mission.

This is the first unified Libyan government since the 2014 ”Libya Dawn” Tripoli militia coup that led to the political, military and to a degree, economic split of the country.

The composition of the GNU, which replaces two rival administrations in the country’s east and west, was approved last Wednesday by a majority vote of the HoR.

The new transitional government is made up of 26 ministers, two deputy PMs and five state ministers who have never occupied posts in Libya’s previous governments. The GNU will lead the country toward national elections slated for December 24 this year.
Before travelling to Tobruk for the swearing-in ceremony, the three-member Presidency Council took its oath before the Constitutional Court in Tripoli earlier on Monday.

The new three-person Presidency Council was selected by the 74-member Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) in Geneva on February 5. It replaces the nine-member Presidency Council selected in 2015 through the Skhirat Libyan Political Agreement (LPA).