The man who elected Libya’s parliament as the new prime minister told Reuters on Wednesday that he expected to take office in Tripoli peacefully despite the caretaker president’s promise to retain power.
Parliament will inaugurate Fati Basaga as prime minister on Thursday, but the head of the current interim government, Abdul Hamid Debaiba, has refused to relinquish control, raising the prospect of a resurgence of fighting.
“There will be no use of force, neither by us nor by the current government,” Basaga said in an interview.
“The oath will be taken before the House of Representatives tomorrow and then I will go to Tripoli,” he said, adding that arrangements would be made to ensure a “normal and smooth” transition.
The struggle for control of the Libyan government after the collapse of the elections scheduled for December threatens to return the country to the conflict and division that prevailed for much of the period since the 2011 NATO-backed revolution.
The caretaker Prime Minister Dbeiba was appointed a year ago through a UN-backed process and says his government remains in power and will only relinquish power after re-scheduled elections he says he will hold in June.
In a televised speech Wednesday, he accused parliament of seeking to sabotage the election, saying “what they called a government will never really work and will have no place.”
Parliament said Dbeiba’s term ended when the December election did not take place as scheduled, and parliament instead chose Bashagha to lead a new transition with elections to follow next year.
Parliament’s position is backed by Khalifa Haftar, who waged a 14-month war in Tripoli from 2019 to 2020. Armed factions in the capital and western regions appear divided over the crisis, with some saying on Tuesday they opposed parliament. move to install a new government.
Basaga, a former interior minister, said he was committed to holding elections within the timeframe set by parliament next year, adding that he wanted an agreement to be reached between rival political institutions on the issue.
Disagreements over the basic rules for the elections led to the collapse of the scheduled election process in December.
Petros Kranias
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Source: Capital
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