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On September 16th, the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said that he planned to hand in his resignation by the end of October.
“I declare my sincere intention to hand over the tasks of power to the coming executive authority in a time no later than October,” Sarraj said in a televised address from the capital, Tripoli.
The announcement comes amid talks between Libya’s rival factions on ending the country’s conflict.
In earlier September, an agreement was announced that elections would be held within 18 months and a new government would be appointed.
This announcement from Sarraj comes just a day after Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani of the GNA’s rival House of Representatives, based in Tobruk, resigned the government.
Frustration over electricity cuts, high fuel prices and poor living conditions led to protests with hundreds taking to the streets of Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi.
Protests also erupted in al-Bayda, the rival government’s former seat, and in the southern city of Sabha. At least one civilian died and three others were injured when protests broke out in the eastern town of al-Marj, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said.
The violent protests “underscore the urgent need to lift the oil blockade and return to a full and inclusive political process that will meet the aspirations of the Libyan people for representative government, dignity and peace,” UNSMIL said in a statement.
The German government and the United Nations have announced an online summit for Libya, scheduled for October 5th.
The meeting will include UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, foreign ministers, and representatives of the conflicting parties in
Libya, as well as representatives from Germany and the UN, the United States, Britain, France, China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Congo, Italy, Egypt and Algeria as well as the European Union, the African Union and the Arab League.
It is, however, also possible that Turkey is unsatisfied with reaching a political solution in Libya, since the new government that is to be elected in a year and a half’s time may not be benevolent towards it and cancel the agreements that allow it to exploit Libya’s national resources and EEZ.
As such, there simply may be an attempt to replace Fayez al-Sarraj with a figurehead who is less obvious and less in the limelight.
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Smart move
“Libya, as well as representatives from Germany and the UN, the United States, Britain, France, China, Turkey…”
“Best friends” of Libya, if say shortly. Those “friends” have strong feeling that their puppet (Sarraj) can lose Tripoli even without war. That’s why they decided to throw him off and install another puppet in attempt to give new hope for local gangs. This works like new coach in a team after resign of old one, unsuccessful coach. It doesn’t work for a long time, if a team is crap.
So he gave all the gold and all the foreigh currency reserves Libya had to Erdogay and now he is f*king off. We are in the wrong business here I think.