Libya’s Presidency Council appoints new spy chief

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI, Libya - (AA) - The Libyan Presidency Council announced Thursday the appointment of Hussein Muhammad Khalifa Al-A'ib as the country's new intelligence chief.

The council said that Al-Aib effectively assumed his duties on May 5, the official date the decree was issued.

Al-Aib succeeds Imad Trabulusi who was appointed last year by the chairman of the Presidency Council of the former Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj.

The intelligence chief is one of the positions appointed by the head of the Presidency Council.

The decision comes within the framework of a series of new appointments made by the head of the Presidency Council Mohammad Menfi, since he assumed duties on March 16.

The new spy chief has worked for years in the intelligence service and hails from Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi in western Libya.

In February, Libya's rival political groups agreed to form an interim unity government to lead the country into elections in December.

Menfi was elected president of the interim setup with Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh as prime minister. Mossa Al-Koni and Abdullah Hussein Al-Lafi were also voted to the three-man presidency council.

Libyans hope the government will end years of civil war that have engulfed the oil-rich country since the ouster and killing of strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara