Libya: PM-Designate Fathi Bashagha announces arrival in Tripoli in few days

Libya’s Prime Minister-designate Fathi Bashagha has told the Financial Times he will  enter capital Tripoli peacefully, in a few days, after  a first attempt failed.

“We will be arriving in Tripoli in the next few days and there will not be another parallel government,” Bashagha said in a telephone interview with the Financial Times.

The former Interior Minister also indicated that he plans to move to the capital in the most “peaceful way possible”, insisting that his government would not be involved in “any violence or conflict”.

“The reason why we have not entered Tripoli just yet is to avoid [conflict],” he said.

Bashagha vowed last week to enter Tripoli on Thursday but the plans failed after his rival and outgoing Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh has closed down the country’s airspace to domestic flights and mobilized pro militia to prevent armed groups allied to Bashagha to clear the way for the new Premier appointed by the parliament last month.

Dbeibeh has warned against any attempt by Bashagha to seize government buildings.

During the telephone interview, Bashagha also stressed that even if Dbeibeh remained physically in the prime minister’s office in the capital, “that does not mean that will stop me from starting my job in Tripoli in another location”.