TRIPOLI — Libya’s UN-backed unity government said it has taken administrative control of seven ministries in Tripoli including the foreign ministry, as it pushes to extend its control over the capital.
The unity government, whose leaders arrived in Tripoli last month, is designed to replace two rival administrations that were set up in the capital and the east in 2014.
But the new government has moved cautiously as it seeks to secure the backing of numerous armed factions that have exerted control over politics in the capital since the fall of Moammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Speaking at an event to mark the handover of the foreign ministry, Mohamed Al-Ammari, a member of the new government’s leadership, or Presidential Council, said the transfer of power was “going well.”
The other ministries that have been handed over to the Government of National Accord (GNA) were housing and public utilities, transport, social affairs, local government, youth and sports, and Islamic affairs, he told Reuters.
The planning, labour, and education ministries would be handed over in the next few days, he added.
The Presidential Council was forced to arrive in Tripoli by ship after the self-declared National Salvation government, which previously held power in Tripoli, closed down the airspace to prevent them from flying in.
The GNA is has so far failed to obtain a vote of confidence from Libya’s eastern-based, internationally-recognised parliament.
Libya’s State Council, the most senior consultative body created under a UN-brokered power-sharing deal in December, met for the first time on Friday.
The GNA has still not been endorsed by a vote of confidence from the internationally recognized parliament now sitting in Tobruk in the country’s far east.
However, on Thursday 102 MPs of the Tobruk parliament — a majority — expressed confidence in the new government despite the lack of a formal vote.
Libya’s warring rivals have come under intense international pressure to rally behind the unity government at a time when the country is grappling with a growing jihadist threat.
While the GNA has now having taken control of several ministries, these have yet to get down to work.
“As soon as the ministers take the oath of office, they can begin working from these ministries,” Amari said.
