TUNIS: Libya’s Fathi Bashagha, appointed as prime minister in a challenge to a unity government in Tripoli, plans to take office in the capital “in the coming days”, he said.

Libya’s parliament picked the former interior minister in February to lead a government to replace that of interim premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah, appointed last year as part of a United Nations-backed peace process to end more than a decade of violence in the North African country.

But Dbeibah has refused to hand over power before elections, setting up a showdown with Bashagha, named by the eastern-based legislature elected in 2014 and backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar. In May, Bashagha arrived in the capital Tripoli in the country’s west and attempted to take office there, sparking pre-dawn clashes between armed groups supporting him and those backing Dbeibah.

He backed down to avoid bloodshed, but says he has since received “positive invitations” to enter the capital.

“All the roads are open into Tripoli and God willing we’ll be there in the coming days,” he said in an interview, speaking via Zoom from his temporary base in the central city of Sirte.

“Some armed forces have changed their position and have nothing against us entering the capital.” Both Bashagha and Dbeibah come from the western city of Misrata and are backed by different forces in Tripoli.

Their rivalry is the latest configuration of the complex power struggles that have riven the country since the 2011 Nato-backed revolt that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Qadhafi.

Dbeibah came to power following a landmark 2020 ceasefire that ended a year-long battle as Haftar tried, unsuccessfully, to seize the capital by force.

The transitional government had a mandate to lead the country to elections last December, but they never took place due to divisions over the rules and the presence of controversial candidates. Bashagha argues that today, Dbeibah’s government is “illegitimate”.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2022