Libyans today mark the 11th anniversary of the revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, at a time when the transition to democracy is facing new obstacles and fears of a resumption of hostilities.
The country has been facing two rival prime ministers since February 10, after failing to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in December. Tobruk-based parliament has elected former Interior Minister Fati Basaga as the new caretaker Prime Minister, replacing Abdelhamid Dibeba, but the latter insists he will hand over power only to an elected government. A political and institutional chaos that is not unknown in Libya.
Festive events are scheduled for tomorrow Friday in Martyrs’ Square, in the heart of Tripoli, where Gaddafi delivered his speeches until he was overthrown on February 17, 2011.
In Benghazi, the country’s second largest city, dozens of people holding Libyan flags gathered today at the site of the first anti-Gaddafi protests.
Dbeiba reiterated today, in a Twitter post, that he was “committed to building a promising future” that would ensure “the freedom and justice” for which “our revolutionaries were sacrificed.” Dibeba’s political future, however, looks uncertain. His opponent, Basaga, has the support of parliament and the military forces of Khalifa Haftar, the powerful man of Eastern Libya.
The UN is trying to maintain a neutral stance, but the special adviser to the Secretary General of the Organization, the American Stephanie Williams, was accused today of “bias” by the representative of the government of Diba, Mohamed Hamoud. Williams had met yesterday with Parliament Speaker Angila Saleh. At the end of their talks, he said he had “recorded” Saleh’s explanations “about the mechanism of Parliament with which he gives his confidence to a new government”, a statement interpreted by Dibbea as supporting his actions. Parliament to replace him.
At the end of 2020, shortly after Haftar’s failure to capture Tripoli, the opposing sides signed a truce agreement. This was followed by the start of the UN-sponsored peace process. In this context, a year ago, Dibeba was commissioned to form a transitional government with the aim of uniting the institutions and leading the country to presidential and parliamentary elections on December 24th.
However, due to persistent disagreements between the two sides, the elections in which the international community based its hopes for the stabilization of the country were postponed indefinitely.
Dibaba, Basaga, Haftar and Saleh were all candidates in the postponed presidential election.
Despite the political failure, there are “infinite things in which Libya is making progress,” said Jalel Harsawi, a researcher on Libya. “Since June 2020, there has been no significant exchange of fire. In the elite, some who were deadly enemies two years ago now talk to each other, or even ally in some cases. “This is the beginning of reconciliation.”
In December, as the election was looming, Basaga, a powerful Western Libyan politician, approached the opposition: he went to Benghazi and met with General Haftar. The former interior minister now has until February 24 to form a government and ask for a vote of confidence in parliament.
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