(Tripoli) Libyan Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah on Sunday defended his suspended diplomacy chief and banned from travel, measures illustrating growing tensions within the interim power ahead of crucial elections.
On Saturday, the Presidential Council (PC) announced the suspension of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Najla al-Mangoush, with a ban on leaving the territory, by the delivery within 14 days of a report on “administrative irregularities” that she would have committed.
A commission of inquiry must verify whether it has taken “decisions of a political nature without consulting” the PC, the Libyan presidential body.
Mr. Dbeibah’s reaction was not long in coming. “The appointment, dismissal, suspension or indictment of a member of the Executive, […] come under the exclusive prerogatives of the Prime Minister, ”he said in a press release.
The measures against Mme Mangoush were decided by the PC a few days before the holding on November 12 in Paris of an international conference on Libya which will discuss the presidential election, the very first by universal suffrage scheduled for December 24, to be followed one month later by legislative.
The Prime Minister instructed Mme Mangoush to ignore the suspension, to “continue his action” and reiterated “his appreciation” for his efforts in the exercise of his functions.
Mr. Dbeibah himself remained in office and chaired an October 21 international conference in Tripoli after he was in theory impeached by a vote of no confidence in Parliament on September 21.
Bomb maker
Calling on the various powers “to respect procedure”, the Prime Minister asked them to avoid “conflicts of interest” and “obstacles” to government action in this “critical phase”.
The PC, made up of three members representing the three regions of Libya, was established in February through a UN-sponsored political process, along with the Dbeibah government.
The two bodies are responsible for preparing the general elections supposed to put an end to the decade of chaos which followed the fall in 2011 of the regime of dictator Muammar Gaddafi after a popular revolt.
If no details were given on the charges against Mr.me Mangoush, local media made the connection with an interview given to the BBC a few days ago where it affirmed that Tripoli would be “ready to cooperate with the United States” for the extradition of a suspect in the case of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am Boeing 747 that exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland (270 dead, including 190 Americans).
According to the BBC, Mme Mangoush was referring to Abu Agila Mohamad Massoud, imprisoned in Tripoli in another case, who was said to have been one of the main bomb makers on behalf of Gaddafi.
Mme Mangoush “formally denied” in a statement the remarks attributed to him, “categorically denying having mentioned the person to the BBC”.
Growing ditch
For the international community, the priority is the holding of elections. But many uncertainties remain, due to a fragile security situation and strong internal dissension, especially between the eastern and western regions of the oil-rich country.
The tension has also been rising recently within the interim power.
“The growing rift between CP President Mohamad al-Manfi and Dbeibah has flared up, al-Manfi jumping on a poor excuse to suspend Minister al-Mangoush,” tweeted Tarek Megerisi, analyst at the European Council on Relations international.
According to Jalel Harchaoui, analyst for the Global Initiative, the CP “can play a key role in resolving legal problems” linked to “risks of invalidity” of the controversial electoral law for the presidential election.
“This creates a political opportunity for President Manfi and his supporters to assert himself against the Prime Minister,” the expert told AFP. It may even be that “this is the beginning of a serious conflict” within power in Tripoli.
The electoral law was ratified by the head of Parliament, Aguila Saleh, an ally of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of the East, without being put to a vote.
The submission of candidatures for the presidential and legislative elections opens on Monday. Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, son of the former “Guide”, suggested that he could run for president, as did Khalifa Haftar.