Libya: new PM vows to assume power on Thursday by “the force of law”
Libya’s new Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha Tuesday said he will assume power in the capital Tripoli in the two coming days by “the force of law not the law of force” amid refusal by outgoing Abdelhamid Dbeibah to allow the cabinet of the former Interior Minister to take office in Tripoli.
The House of Representative (HoR), the country’s legislature designated last month Bashagha as new Prime Minister in replacement of Dbeibah whose mandate, the parliament said, came to an end on Dec. 24, the proposed date for failed presidential elections.
Dbeibah rejected Bashagha’s choice and blocked access to the capital for the new team which took oath early this month.
Dbeibah has ordered the closure of the country’s airspace to all domestic flights in view of preventing Bashagha and his team from traveling to the seat of the Libyan government.
Early this month, the former Interior Minister appealed to the Attorney General to stop Dbeibah from preventing Bashagha’s new ministers from traveling from Tripoli’s Mitiga airport to parliament in Tobruk to take the oath of office, Libyan Herald reported.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, Bashagha indicated that his government won’t be a parallel one but rather an effective government, representative of east, west and south regions, using all the Libyan expertise from all parities, including Gaddafi regime, warning of war and threatening that he has a military expertise, thus advising Abdelhamid Dbeibah not to resort to war.
“The parliament and armed brigades as well as politicians are part of the political process and the solution for all of this is presidential and parliamentary elections. The MPs did their job and they represented all of Libya in their positions at the parliament. They don’t have armed groups to secure them, but they are statesmen and politicians and they did their patriotic job. I’ll lead Libya to elections and cooperate with the two councils as well as the UNSMIL in that regard,” he added.
