Armed clashes renewed in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, at dawn today, Saturday, while the appointment of a UN envoy for the country was announced, and the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, pledged to work on a political solution to the conflict.
Armed Libyan factions clashed in the western suburbs of Tripoli late Friday evening and Saturday morning.
The clashes took place in the Warshafana area (west of Tripoli), and the forces allied with the government of Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba consolidated their control over the city.
The clashes come a week after the bloodiest violence in two years, when several rival factions fought in and around the capital.
The fighting that erupted last week has led to the expulsion of several groups allied with the head of the government appointed from the House of Representatives, Fathi Bashagha, who is trying to seize power in Tripoli, while the national unity government refuses to abandon its responsibilities before holding elections.
After last week's fighting, both Bashagha and Dabaiba visited Turkey, which maintains a military presence around Tripoli that includes drones that can play a critical role in determining the outcome of any major fighting if it decides to support one side.
welcome and pledge
In the same context, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, announced the appointment of Senegalese diplomat, Abdallah Batili, as the new special envoy to Libya.
Dabaiba welcomed the appointment of Batili as a new UN envoy to Libya, and confirmed in a Facebook post his government's full support for his work, and that it would push for a comprehensive political solution that expedites the issuance of a consensual constitutional basis for holding the elections, as he put it.
Bashagha also welcomed Batelli's appointment, and said, "We look forward to cooperation and joint action in a way that contributes to the stability of Libya, the consolidation of the principle of peaceful transfer of power, and the holding of elections according to a road map."
For its part, the Libyan Presidential Council expressed its hope that Batili would contribute to helping the Libyans transition to the modern, civil democratic state that the Libyan people aspire to, as he put it.