The Prime Minister-designate of the Libyan House of Representatives, Fathi Bashagha - who is competing for power with the Tripoli government led by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba - confirmed that he will assume his duties in the capital "in the coming days", considering that the Tripoli government is "illegal", and that "its mandate has expired, and it has not succeeded." in organizing elections.

Bashagha (backed by retired Libyan Major General Khalifa Haftar) announced in mid-May that he had entered Tripoli with his government, but he withdrew hours later, following clashes in the capital between two armed groups loyal to each of the two prime ministers.

In this context, Bashagha stressed that if he withdrew from the capital, it was in order to avoid bloodshed without relinquishing his duties in Tripoli.

He explained - in an interview with Agence France-Presse from his temporary headquarters in the city of Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli - that "all roads to Tripoli are open," adding, "We received several positive invitations to enter the capital."

Libya is deeply divided with the presence of two competing governments, the first in Tripoli came according to a political agreement a year and a half ago headed by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, who refuses to hand over power except to an elected government, and the other headed by Fathi Pashaga, who was appointed by the Tobruk parliament (east) last February and gave it confidence in Last March, it took Sirte in the center of the country as a temporary headquarters after being prevented from entering Tripoli.

Dabaiba and Bashagha are supported by different armed groups in the capital, but the latter confirmed that "the forces that were in opposition have changed their positions, and they want us to enter the capital, and we will enter," adding, "There is no strong opposition, there is opposition from some forces that the previous government paid money to." ".

The Dabaiba government was assigned a basic task, which is to organize legislative and presidential elections that were scheduled for last December, but the differences between the political parties - especially over the electoral law - led to their postponement indefinitely, knowing that the international community was pinning great hopes on them to achieve stability in the country.

Although Bashagha is supported by the eastern camp, he hails from Misurata in western Libya like his rival Dabaiba. The former trainer in the field of aviation made a name for himself during his time at the head of the Ministry of Interior from 2018 to early 2021, and today he is at the center of a serious institutional crisis It raises fears of a new civil war in the country.

Bashagha ruled out the civil war scenario, but warned that "maybe chaos will prevail because of the demonstrations and people's demand that there be one government in Libya and a government that is able to bring together the Libyans and begin the reform process."

Demonstrations took place in early July across the country against the deteriorating living conditions and power outages and to demand the renewal of the political class, including Dabaiba and Bashagha. The demonstrators managed to enter the Tobruk parliament (east), before setting it on fire.


waiting for solution 

Since mid-April, Khalifa Haftar's supporters have closed the main oil facilities as a means of putting pressure on the Tripoli government and forcing it to step down, but the closure led to a decrease in gas production, which is necessary to supply the electrical network, which resulted in prolonging the electricity outage period.

Bashagha denied the existence of "any connection" between the power outage and the closure of oil facilities, and said, "After the residents of the Oil Crescent are reassured that the money will not go to corruption, thefts, or other things, they will lift the ban on oil exports."

He also called on the United Nations to "adopt solutions that work for the benefit of the Libyans instead of the countries interfering in Libya," at a time when the conflict has been greatly exacerbated by external interventions.

"We were able to avoid any military confrontation, but Libya cannot remain like this forever, we need a solution," he added.