Libya’s interim prime minister forced to retreat from capital amid clashes with armed fighters
Libya’s eastern parliamentappointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha has retreated from Tripoli after an attempt to enter the capital yesterday led to clashes.
Violence broke out after Mr Bashagha arrived in Tripoli yesterday morning amid a stalemate over control of the capital, where a rival administration led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah has refused to step down.
Unverified video clips posted online showed fighters in central Tripoli and around the port with the sound of automatic gunfire.
Mr Bashagha’s office confirmed he had left the city.
In a statement carried by local media, Mr Dbeibah said his government would “strike with an iron fist anyone who harms the security and safety of the citizen”.
Libya was split between rival eastern and western factions since 2014, before a 2020 truce brought it under a fragile united government.
A plan to hold an election in December last year collapsed amid arguments among major factions and prominent candidates. The dispute involved rules governing the elections and the legitimacy of the parliament.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Bashagha had promised to carry out his duties despite the unrest.
“We arrived in Tripoli safely and the welcoming messages have not stopped for the past several hours,” he said in a video message on Twitter. “We will hopefully start our duties tomorrow and work with the people of Libya, be it those who support or oppose us.”
Heavy security was installed in the immediate vicinity of the headquarters of the prime minister’s office near the Tariq Al Seka area of Tripoli, according to sources.
Mr Bashagha, who in recent weeks has been in Sirte, where the eastern-based administration has been holding its own sessions, entered the city through Tripoli’s Mitiga airport, officials said.
He was accompanied by allied fighters in the hope of taking over government.
However, he quickly met opposition from forces aligned with Mr Dbeibah, who was appointed through a UNbacked process last year.
In March, politicians in eastern Libya had announced Mr Bashagha, the former interior minister, as the country’s new interim prime minister.
Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh said 92 out of 101 MPs voted for Mr Bashagha. He was supposed to replace Mr Dbeibah, who has refused to step
I highlight the fundamental need to preserve calm on the ground and to protect civilians
STEPHANIE WILLIAMS
UN special adviser on Libya
aside as prime minister and challenged his nomination.
Members of Parliament have said Mr Dbeibah’s mandate expired when the election failed to take place as planned in December.
Stephanie Williams, the special adviser on Libya to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, urged the rival parties to “preserve calm and protect civilians”.
“In light of recent reports out of Tripoli, I highlight the fundamental need to preserve calm on the ground and to protect civilians,” Ms Williams tweeted yesterday shortly after the clashes in Tripoli broke out.
“I urge restraint and insist on the absolute necessity of refraining from provocative actions, including inflammatory
rhetoric, participation in clashes and the mobilisation of forces.”
Mr Bashagha’s links to Tripoli and his roots in the capital might explain his swift retreat, Libya researcher Jalel Harchaoui told The National.
“As a result of the 20192020 trauma, actors native to Tripolitania, including Bashagha, are deeply opposed to the notion of war in the capital,” he said.
The violence that unfolded during Mr Bashagha’s “brief presence inside Tripoli” reflected his “clear failure”, said Mr Harchaoui, who has written extensively on the crisis.
Officials from the rival administrations on Sunday resumed talks in Cairo, the latest UN-led effort to agree on constitutional amendments for elections.
Twelve politicians from Libya’s eastern parliament and 11 from the High Council of State, an advisory body from western Libya, attended the talks parliament spokesman Abdullah Bliheg said.
The failure to hold the vote in December was a major blow to the international efforts seeking to end a decade of chaos in Libya.
It has opened a new chapter in its long-running political impasse, with rival governments claiming power after tentative steps towards unity in the past year.
The oil-rich country has experienced conflict since a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The country has for years been split between rival administrations in the east and west. Each organisation is supported by different militia groups and foreign governments.