Libya's Tripoli-based government to step down

Libya's Tripoli-based government to step down

PanARMENIAN.Net - One of two rival governments in Libya has announced that it is stepping down, a justice ministry statement has said, according to BBC News.

The announcement comes less than a week after the arrival in Tripoli of a UN-backed national unity government.

The Tripoli-based administration said it was standing down to prevent further bloodshed.

Since 2014 Libya has had two competing administrations, the one in Tripoli backed by powerful militias and the other in the eastern city of Tobruk.

The Tobruk-based administration, formed by the House of Representatives, still opposes the UN-backed body.

"We inform you that we are stopping our work as an executive power, as the presidency and ministers of the government," said the statement by the self-declared National Salvation government.

This authority was set up by the former parliament, the General National Congress (GNC).

According to BBC, the statement carried the stamp of the government but did not have any names or signatures of ministers.

The UN-brokered unity government arrived in Tripoli last week and is now operating from the city's naval base as it strives to restore peace in a country ravaged by factional conflict.

Western countries want the unity government to unite as many factions in Libya as possible against an increasingly powerful affiliate of the group known as Islamic State.

But it is not clear how the new administration, led by the Presidency Council, will be able to assert its authority given the opposition it will inevitably face elsewhere in the country.

Some rival lawmakers in December signed up to the United Nations agreement to form a unity administration, but the deal has not yet been backed by all the country's many militia brigades that formed after the uprising.

The deal saw the formation of a nine-member Presidency Council, which includes the unity Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj.

The UN says it is considering lifting sanctions on Libya's estimated $67bn sovereign wealth fund if the government can regain control of the country.

Photo: AFP/ Getty Images
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