TRIPOLI: Libya’s parliament-appointed prime minister Fathi Bashagha left the capital Tripoli on Tuesday, his office said, hours after his attempt to enter the city led to clashes between rival factions.
Bashagha’s government earlier said it had arrived in the capital, where the unity government has refused to cede power, prompting fighting between their militia backers.
Its press service announced “the arrival of the prime minister of the Libyan government, Mr. Fathi Bashagha, accompanied by several ministers, in the capital Tripoli to begin his work there.”
Clashes broke out between rival armed groups shortly after he entered the western city, an AFP journalist reported.
In February, the parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk designated former interior minister Bashagha as prime minister.
But he has failed to oust the Tripoli-based unity administration led by premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who has said repeatedly he will only cede power to an elected government.
Dbeibah’s government was formed in 2020 as part of United Nations-led efforts to draw a line under a decade of conflict since a NATO-backed revolt toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
Dbeibah was to lead the country until elections last December, but they were indefinitely postponed and his political opponents argue that his mandate has now finished.
The rise of Bashagha’s government gives the North African country two rival administrations, as was the case between 2014 and a 2020 cease-fire.
Libya’s parliament-appointed prime minister quits Tripoli after clashes
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Libya’s parliament-appointed prime minister quits Tripoli after clashes
- Clashes break out between rival armed groups shortly after Fathi Bashagha enters the western city
UN urges all sides to ‘see reason’ in Iran-US conflict
- “I deplore the military strikes across Iran this morning by Israel and the USA, and the subsequent retaliatory strikes by Iran,” Turk said
- “To avert these terrible consequences for civilians, I call for restraint and implore all parties to see reason, to de-escalate”
GENEVA: The United Nations’ rights chief deplored Saturday’s strikes in the Middle East and urged all parties to return to negotiations, saying attacks would only result in “death, destruction and human misery.”
“I deplore the military strikes across Iran this morning by Israel and the United States of America, and the subsequent retaliatory strikes by Iran,” Volker Turk said in a statement.
“As always, in any armed conflict, it is civilians who end up paying the ultimate price.
“Bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences but only result in death, destruction and human misery.
“To avert these terrible consequences for civilians, I call for restraint and implore all parties to see reason, to de-escalate, and for a return to the negotiating table where they had been actively seeking a solution only hours earlier,” he said.
“Failing to do so risks an even wider conflict, that will inevitably lead to further senseless civilian deaths and destruction on a potentially unimaginable scale, not just in Iran but across the Middle East region.”
On Thursday, US and Iranian negotiators held indirect talks in Geneva, through Omani mediators, on Tehran’s nuclear program — within sight of Turk’s offices in the Swiss city.
He reminded all parties that the protection of civilians was paramount in armed conflict, insisting that those who violated the rules of war must be held accountable.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said the agency was concerned by the “grave risk to people’s health” from the expanding conflict.
“The threat of nuclear facilities being impacted is especially worrying,” he said.
“All must be done to reduce any nuclear safety risk, which may affect people in the region,” he added.
“We urge leaders to choose the challenging path of dialogue over the senseless route of destruction.”
