Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Political Dispute over Post of Libya’s Representative to United Nations | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Chief of Libya’s U.N.-backed government Fayez al-Sarraj


Cairo-Diplomatic clashes renewed on Friday between Libya’s parliament and the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

The parliament had hinted intentions of moving headquarters from the Libyan city of Tobruk, located in the country’s far east, to Benghazi, which the army recently announced freeing from extremists.

The United Nations late last year brokered a power-sharing deal to form a Government of National Accord (GNA), but the Sarraj cabinet is still struggling to assert its authority.

Ali Amdord, Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry serving under Abdullah al-Thani, which supports Libya’s elected parliament, says that international powers moving forward with Sarraj’s decision to remove Ibrahim Dabbashi from his post as Libyan Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York loudly sounds a violation against the will of the Libyan people.

He said Sarraj, who heads the Presidential Council, decided to remove him from his position, but the decision has not been backed by the parliament.

Amdord, in a statement, accused head of United Nations Support Mission in Libya Martin Kobler of bias, and not serving his post even-handedly to resolve the country’s dilemma.

Amdord’s statement was published by the Libyan state news agency, as Kobler departed to Egypt on a two-day visit to meet with a hand-full of officials on developments in Libya.

Moreover, Amdrod cited Kobler as a diplomat who issues orders and directives, acting as a superlative power which downgrades the free-will of the people of Libya.

Libyans have recently protested and demanded that the German diplomat be replaced.

The Libyan parliament spokesperson had directly accused Sarraj’s presidential council of caving in before terrorist militia dominance in the national capital, Tripoli. He added that the militants overrunning Tripoli drove the presidential council out of the country.

The presidential council had previously arrived to the capital of Tunisia, after not being endorsed by Libya’s elected parliament, while a rival political authority based in the country’s far east has refused to cede power.

The official added that the council has received lesser support after it proved highly dependent on warlords, who had swarmed government quarters in Tripoli and fought for greater power.

He confirmed that, crippled by militia rule, Sarraj’s government has no true intentions of reconstructing Libya.