Libya: Clashes as Prime Minister Fathi Bachagha tries to enter Tripoli

Vehicles destroyed after renewed fighting in Tripoli, Libya, May 17, 2022. REUTERS - HAZEM AHMED

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1 min

The Prime Minister, appointed by Parliament in February, based in the east of the country, has been trying for several weeks to reach the capital.

The outgoing Abdelhamid Dbeibah does not want to leave his post.

These are therefore clashes between armed groups of two rival camps in a Libya still divided.

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Fighting between rival militias began overnight just after

appointed by the Parliament based in Tobruk.

He was accompanied by several of his ministers and indicated that he wanted to begin his work.

This is the second time since his appointment in February that he has tried to reach the capital where the executive power sits.

In the middle of the morning, after several hours of fighting, his press service announced that he had left the capital to preserve “ 

 ”.

The fighting this morning has been violent and is symptomatic of the chaos that reigns in the country.

On the one hand, there is Tripoli, with

, supported by the international community, but which is at the end of its mandate and which refuses to cede power before an election is held.

On the other Fathi Bachagha, invested by the Parliament in the East, supported by Marshal Haftar, and who tried by force to take office in the capital.

A standoff between the two men in order to obtain control of the executive and therefore legitimacy.

And this while the United Nations special envoy is trying to obtain a consensus in order to organize elections which, I remind you, were scheduled for last December.

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• Libya