UN, US hail approval of Libya’s new gov’t

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) – The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the US Embassy on Wednesday welcomed the Libyan Parliament’s vote of confidence to the new government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

"Libya has now a genuine opportunity to move forward towards unity, stability, prosperity, reconciliation and to restore fully its sovereignty,” UNSMIL said in a statement.

It also applauded the Libyan House of Representatives for holding the session to grant confidence to Dbeibeh’s government.

The US Embassy, for its part, congratulated the Libyans for approving Dbeibeh’s new government.

"Congratulations on the formation of an interim unity government to set the stage for elections in December,” the embassy said on Twitter.

Earlier Wednesday, in a majority vote, Libya's parliament granted confidence to Dbeibeh’s new unity government with 132 votes of 133 lawmakers who attended the voting session.

Dbeibeh, for his part, described the parliament's vote of confidence to his interim government as a "historical moment" and pledged to end war in his country.

On Feb. 5, Libya's rival political groups agreed in UN-mediated talks to form an interim unity government to lead the country to elections this December, where Dbeibeh was designated as the prime minister and tasked with forming a new government.

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

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara