Libya: The Government of Bashagha Opens Fire on Dbeibeh and the Muslim Brotherhood
The Libyan stability government headed by Fathi Bashagha opened fire on outgoing Prime Minister of National Unity Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh and the Muslim Brotherhood organization, accusing the former of corruption and the latter of corrupting the country’s political life.
The Istiqlal government called on some figures affiliated with the Brotherhood who it said “helped poison the political atmosphere and create divisions since the beginning of the February 17th Revolution in 2011, to cut off their hands from Libya and spare their loved ones”, Al-Wasat reported.
Some of the organization’s leaders had called for a meeting in Turkey to form a “third new government in the country,” which Hafiz Kaddour, foreign minister in the Bashagha government, rejected. He criticized what he described as “the continuation of the political paranoia of the Muslim Brotherhood by trying to create alternative bodies.”
The Brotherhood “will only contribute to confusion and sabotage”, he said, calling on the group to “reconsider their exaggerated selves and stop using religion in their projects that are not innocent”.
He called on the countries that negatively interfere in his country to “distance Libya from their narrow calculations,” and asked them not to use it as “an arena to settle political and military rivalries.” He also called on the UN mission in Libya to make more sure that its work is consistent with the decision to assign it as a supporter and facilitator, and not to go beyond that.
Separately, the government appointed by the House of Representatives accused the national unity government headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh of committing financial irregularities, describing them as “grave”, and threatened to stop oil revenues for the accounts of the institution that manages the sector, in a new escalation that would deepen the political deadlock and impede the efforts of the UN envoy Abdoulaye Bathily to end the crisis in the country, according to the Libyan Observatory.
This was revealed in a letter sent by the Minister of Planning and Finance in the government appointed by the House of Representatives, Oussama Hammad, to the Attorney General, the Chairman of the Administrative Control Authority, the Chairman of the Audit Bureau, and the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission. The letter was published on the official Facebook page of the Ministry.
“We inform you of the financial irregularities committed by the outgoing Prime Minister of National Unity (referring to Dbeibeh) on December 28, 2014, in addition to other irregularities committed against the Libyan forces,” the letter said.
In the letter, Hammad said, “Dbeibeh has deported more than 16 billion and 500 million dinars (about $3.2 billion) from Title III allocations without legal support.”
He called for “launching an extensive criminal and administrative investigation into the matter, initiating criminal and disciplinary proceedings against the outgoing Prime Minister of National Unity and all his partners in the aforementioned incidents, and holding legal responsibility and the consequences for violators.”
