Anticipation and waiting for what will happen to the situation on the ground is increasing with the recent high level of statements from the competing parties for the leadership of the Libyan political scene, perhaps the most prominent of which is what was issued by the Libyan Prime Minister, Fathi Bashagha, on Monday evening, and the subsequent statements by his interior minister, Issam Bu Zuriba.
Bu Zuriba addressed the security authorities in the capital, Tripoli, demanding that they ignore any instructions issued by the unity government’s interior, describing it as the government that has expired, and stressing that the Libyan government’s Ministry of Interior is in the process of finalizing all the security arrangements necessary to carry out its work from Tripoli.
Statements that some describe as indirect escalation in a clear message from Bashagha to his political opponents in the capital that he will not back down from assuming his duties as prime minister from the capital, and will not allow his government to be a parallel one, but rather will seek to take control of the entire country .
Bashagha affirmed in his speech Monday that he will enter the capital “by the force of law, not by force” and that the government will go there in the next two days “because his government is not parallel, but rather is a Libyan government for all of the country, east, west and south.”
Statements were met on the other side by assurances from the Prime Minister of the Unity Government, Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, that his government will continue its duties until elections are held next June. In his meeting with his government ministers on Saturday, he indicated the need to ignore pressures and continue to focus on the main goal, which is holding elections, stating that the government of Bashagha will not have a place on the ground.
It is worth noting that several armed formations declared their alert a few days ago, after news spread of Bashagha’s arrival on a plane to Mitiga Airport, and some of them headed to the airport in a message that the Libyan government headed by Bashagha cannot enter Tripoli.
Who will rule from Tripoli? Will Dabaiba hand power over peacefully? Will Bashagha resort to “the force of law” as previously announced? And how would that be? Questions whose answers will determine, in one way or another, the features of the next stage, and the shape of the Libyan state, whose people are tired of the interactions that have exhausted the country and its people for years.
