Libya’s Dbeibeh rejects deal on ‘sovereign positions’

By Moataz Wannes

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) – Prime Minister of Libya’s Tripoli-based unity government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, has rejected an agreement with East Libya-based parliament on changing heads of the country’s sovereign positions.

On Friday, Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh and Khaled al-Mishri, head of the Tripoli-based High Council of State, which acts as a senate, agreed during their talks in Morocco to change heads of the sovereign positions before January.

“Libyans are asking everyone to fulfill their obligations towards elections. Talking about parallel tracks such as sharing sovereign positions is no longer acceptable,” Dbeibeh said on Twitter.

He called on both Saleh and al-Mishri “to accelerate the adoption of a fair constitutional rule that ends the legal problem that hinders the holding of elections.”

Oil-rich Libya has remained in turmoil since 2011 when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted after four decades in power.

The situation has worsened since March when East Libya-based Parliament appointed a new government led by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, but Dbeibeh insists he will cede authority only to a government that comes through an "elected parliament," raising fears that Libya could slip back into a civil war.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report