Calm prevailed in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, today, Friday, after the withdrawal of military battalions, some of them loyal to the current Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, and others supportive of the Prime Minister-designate Fathi Bashagha.
Today, Bashagha announced the withdrawal of the armed groups that were deployed in Tripoli and its suburbs to support him.
The Prime Minister-designate by the House of Representatives expressed his readiness for dialogue, stressing that the dispute will not develop into a war.
And the Anatolia news agency quoted residents in Tripoli as saying that all armed battalions returned to their barracks after being deployed in areas of the city yesterday evening.
The residents said that the roads blocked by groups supporting Dabaiba and Bashagha have been opened.
The deployment of these battalions in the capital has raised fears of confrontations between the two parties.
So far, Dabaiba insists that he will hand over power only to a government that will emerge from new elections, while Bashagha and his supporters in the House of Representatives say that the current government expired on December 24 and must relinquish power.
Williams, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General, with Dabaiba in Tripoli (Anatolia)
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The withdrawal of military forces from Tripoli follows US and international calls for calm.
In statements to Bloomberg, Stephanie Williams, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that Dabaiba and Bashagha may hold direct talks to resolve the political crisis.
Williams added that elections are the only way to resolve the political crisis and renew the legitimacy of Libyan institutions.
Recently, Dabaiba presented a plan based on holding parliamentary elections before next June 24, that is, before the end of the roadmap for the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, which chose his government a year ago in Geneva.