Libya: Interim government officially begins tenure after smooth handover

A transitional government in Libya on March 16 took power in the capital Tripoli, officially beginning a tenure designed to and with democratic elections late this year. According to AP, Fayez Sarraj, who is the head of the outgoing UN-supported administration, transferred power to Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and Mohammad Younes Menfi, who chairs a three-member Presidential Council. The ceremony in the capital city came after Dbeibah and his cabinet were sworn in before lawmakers and Libya’s top judges in the eastern town of Tobruk. 

The smooth transfer of power in Libya is now seen as an important step to end the chaos in the North African country. Back in 2014, the lack of a proper handover among legislators was a major factor in the split of Libya’s institutions. However, after Tuesday’s ceremony, Claudia Gazzini, a Libya expert at the International Crisis Group, called the day “historic” for Libya. But she also added that the interim government would face huge challenges, mainly avoiding political impasse or a relapse of war. 

Libyan crisis 

It is worth noting that prior to the Tripoli ceremony, lawmakers had already endorsed the interim government last week amid International pressure to implement an UN-brokered political roadmap. According to AP, the roadmap, agreed to by an UN-picked Libyan political forum last year, has set December 24 for general elections in the oil-rich country. 

Libya has plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country, since then, fell into the hands of competing rival militias, and politicians that divided self-defined government in Tripoli and the Libyan east. The North African nation also turned a hoisting ground for radical Islamic rebel groups and terrorist organizations like Daesh and Al Qaida, with conflict intensifying due to the influx of arms. 

(Image: AP)