Hundreds of vehicles with soldiers and armed groups affiliated with the Government of National Unity (GUN) in Tripoli took the Libyan capital, in opposition to Fathi Bashaga, appointed Prime Minister by Parliament in Tobruk.
Armed columns took to the streets of the Airport and Shatt this Saturday, together with the GUN forces of Abdelhamid Dbeibah, following news of a mobilization order by the commander of the western region, Osama al Juwaili, loyal to Bashaga.
Reports suggest that al-Juwaili and some of the Misrata forces in the central region, in support of Bashaga, are preparing to enter Tripoli in the next few hours, although a source in the city of Zintan, some 160 kilometers of the capital, assured that there are no movements in this sense.
According to reports, the forces supporting Bashaga are made up of part of the al Nawasi Brigades, affiliated with Mustafa Kaddour and so far linked to Tripoli, as well as groups from al Zawiya, in the northwest, and from Warshafana.
On February 10, the Parliament, located in the eastern city of Tobruk and supervised by Marshal Khalifa Hfollowing, appointed the former head of the Interior Bashaga as Prime Minister to replace Dbeibah, whose mandate they consider expired due to the suspension of the elections scheduled for the last December.
Nevertheless, Dbeidah is opposed to leaving power, and since then the two interact as prime minister, without the international community having taken a position, while Bashaga warned of the seizure of power in the capital by “peaceful means”.
This Thursday, photographs of Bashaga emerged in Tunisia in alleged consultations with Dbeidah ministers and various military leaders in the city of Misrata that were perceived as part of the preparations for an imminent takeover of the capital.
The movements take place at the time that the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) sponsors in Cairo the negotiations between the High Council of State -which showed its support for Dbeidah- and Parliament to agree on a constitutional basis that should govern an electoral process, with no date set by the new institutional division.
