Failure of Inter-Libyan Dialog Meeting Sparks War of Words between Dbeibah and Bachaga
A round of war of words broke out over the past 48 hours in Libya between Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah and former Minister of Interior Fathi Bachaga.
The story began with Bachaga’s release on Friday evening, through a video on his official Facebook account, in which he attacked members of the Political Dialog Forum after they failed to agree on the constitutional basis, warning that the African country was entering chaos.
Accusations against the government
Bachaga said : “You have been chosen by the United Nations, and if you do not like the road map that you have pledged, put your trust in God.”
Former al-Wefaq interior minister accused the Libyan government of trying to extend its mandate and obstruct the roadmap process, saying : “For the government, whether you block or not the elections, extend or not, this is unacceptable. The government will end on 23 December 2021 at 12 hours, its legitimacy will end. The country will, God forbid, enter into chaos.”
Dbeibah Responds
Not 24 hours after Bachaga’s statements, Dbeibah came out on Saturday, during a meeting on the electronic platform “Our Government,” saying that “many voices are calling for war and the threat of force today and yesterday (..) Those who have been in power for 8 years or 9 years and do not want to leave it, today they are holding us accountable for 3 months, what did they present?”.
Bachaga did not make the statement, but he launched a strong attack : “We have suffered for 8 years, and they were the ones who were in the wars and ignited them (..) We told them enough.. “Today, they are sobbing in the radio stations and opening their horns. They want war and they do not want peace for Libya.”
Dbeibah warned the armed groups and all those who want to ignite the war in Libya that the government will be on the lookout for them, saying: This is our address and slogan. As for those who say that the land belongs to the Libyan people, no armed groups can monopolize the Libyan decision.”
Failed dialog meeting
In a tweet on his official Twitter account, Dbeibah urged all national parties and the UN mission to assume their responsibilities and promote the public interest and agree on a formula that would ensure the timely conduct of the elections and enable the Libyan people to exercise their right to vote.
These verbal clashes between the current and former official come two days after the UN mission in Libya announced that the Inter-Libyan Dialog failed to reach a consensus on a constitutional basis to hold the next elections in the country on time.
Division and dispute
Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Raiszdon Zenenga, said that the differences had divided the forum members and had sharpened their focus on the outstanding issues.
The UN official explained that the failure to reach an agreement does not mean that the meeting failed, and he called on the forum members to put the interest of Libya in the first place. He stressed that the UN mission will continue to work with the forum members and the agreement committee to hold another meeting of the Libyan political dialog meeting soon.
