A parallel government enthroned by the Libyan Parliament and which is trying to oust the executive in place in Tripoli was sworn in on Thursday, plunging the country into an institutional crisis reminiscent of the darkest hours of the civil war.
The Prime Minister designated by Parliament, Fathi Bachagha, and part of his team were sworn in before the deputies in Tobruk, in the east of the country.
Already plagued by divisions between competing institutions in east and west, Libya found itself with two rival governments after parliament on Tuesday approved a new executive led by Mr. Bachagha, a former minister of security. ‘Interior.
He thus defies the Cabinet in place in Tripoli led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah, which refuses to cede power before the holding of legislative elections, which he announces for June.
Mr Bachagha accused his rival of trying to obstruct the swearing-in ceremony by suspending air traffic from Tripoli to prevent members of the new government from flying to Tobruk and having some of them detained by an armed group loyal.
“Unwarranted escalation”
“I condemn the unjustified escalation on the part of certain parties, intended to prevent several ministers from taking the oath,” Bachagha said in a speech after the swearing-in ceremony.
According to him, three designated ministers were missing after being detained by a pro-Dbeibah armed group. “It’s a cowardly act,” he said.
A fourth minister, that of Economy and Trade, Jamal Salem Chaaban, announced his resignation shortly before the ceremony, denouncing a “lack of transparency and respect for procedure” during the vote of confidence. “Being part of this government that is bringing war and destruction back to the capital is not an honor,” he said, in a video released by local media.
The government in place in Tripoli, led by Mr. Dbeibah, had denounced the vote of confidence as an “obvious fraud” and affirmed that “the necessary quorum was not reached”.
To be part of this government that brings war and destruction back to the capital is not an honor
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed concern “about reports that the vote in the House of Representatives did not meet expected standards of transparency and procedure” and referred to “acts of intimidation before the sitting” against deputies.
Mr. Dbeibah had been appointed a year ago, as part of a peace process sponsored by the UN, at the head of an interim government, to lead the transition by organizing presidential and legislative elections.
“People of Peace”
But persistent disputes led to the postponement sine die of the double ballot, on which the international community pinned great hopes to finally put an end to the chaos which has ravaged the country since the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
In the midst of a civil war, the country had already been ruled, between 2014 and 2016, by two rival prime ministers in the West and in the East.
“We are supporters of peace, by word and deed, while some want to drag us into conflict. We will not give them a chance and we will not shed a drop of blood, ”assured Mr. Bachagha Thursday before the deputies.
But he stressed his firm intention to govern “from Tripoli” by the “force of law”.
A former trainer of combat aircraft pilots converted into business, Mr. Bachagha, 59, became known to the general public during his time at the head of the Ministry of the Interior from 2018 to the beginning of 2021.
In December, as a postponement of the election loomed, the presidential candidate had moved closer to the rival camp by traveling to Benghazi, where he had met Marshal Khalifa Haftar, a strongman from the East , in the name of national reconciliation.