In a letter dated Monday, President Mohamad al-Mnaffi called on Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah to quickly appoint a defense minister. The post has been vacant since the government’s announcement in March last year due to its sensitive nature, and both sides want to take up the post.
Abdel Hamid Dbeibah is invited to a meeting on Sunday with the three members of the Presidential Council to appoint a minister and put an end to this matter. The tone of the Presidential Council’s letter is threatening: it suggests that if the Prime Minister does not attend the meeting on Sunday, it will be up to the Presidential Council to appoint a Minister of Defense before this appointment is approved by Parliament.
An ultimatum that Abdel Hamid Dbeibah has not yet responded to. Prior to this crisis, he accused, without mentioning a foreign country “of exerting pressure to appoint a specific person”, to this post.
This week, the Military Committee 5 + 5 also demanded that this appointment be expedited in order to “reunite the military institution”. The same request was forwarded by the Spokesman for Parliament but also by the Libyan National Army under the leadership of Khalifa Haftar.
According to the political agreement signed in Geneva last autumn, it is up to the Prime Minister to appoint members of the government in consultation with the Presidential Council, which is considered to be the highest authority governing the armed forces.
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