UN says it still recognizes Libya’s Prime Minister Dbeibeh

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - The UN said it still recognizes Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh after the Libyan House of Representatives voted Thursday for former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to become the country's new prime minister.

Dbeibeh escaped unharmed from an assassination attempt early Thursday in the capital, Tripoli.

"We've seen the press reports on the assassination, but we've not gotten any confirmation," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at a news conference.

Dujarric said the UN chief's Special Advisor on Libya Stephanie Williams "is currently engaging with all key interlocutors to get a clearer picture of what has been agreed."

The Libyan parliamentary session came while Dbeibeh vowed to continue in his post, adhering to the outcome of negotiations in 2020 under the intra-Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, which set the term of the transitional government at 18 months, extending it to June.

Dbeibeh vowed Wednesday that his government will keep working to ensure that Libya does not go through a “new transitional phase” and will not allow the “dominant political class of the past to continue in the coming years.”