Libya’s acting prime minister sought to reassert authority over his turbulent country by naming a new Cabinet yesterday, but some lawmakers threatened to veto his choices and a rival assembly continued to hold sway in the capital.
In a sign of the government’s inability to control the vast desert nation, which has been rocked by anarchy, Libya’s biggest oilfield stopped working after rockets fired by an armed group hit a refinery storage tank.
Abdullah al-Thinni’s administration has failed to control militia, and Islamists who backed the rebellion to oust strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 have kept their weapons, staking claims on territory, oil and other resources.
Western powers and Libya’s neighbours fear the North African country is heading for civil war, with an armed group from the western city of Misurata seizing the capital Tripoli in August and forcing the elected Parliament to move to the far east.
Libya’s biggest oilfield stopped working after rockets hit a refinery storage tank
Lawmakers said Thinni asked Parliament to approve a new 16-strong Cabinet, including prominent human rights activist Farida Allaghi as Foreign Minister – his first new government since he was re-appointed as acting premier earlier this month.
The names were not announced publicly. But parliamentarians told Reuters that Thinni had decided to appoint himself defence minister as well as prime minister, and that the list included some figures from the previous government.
“There is a big possibility that the House of Representatives is going to reject the new government... as it still includes ministers from the former government,” Benghazi lawmaker Issam Al-Uraibi said.
Parliament spokesman Faraj Hashim said lawmakers, working out of Tobruk near the Egyptian border because of the Tripoli violence, were unhappy about Thinni also serving as defence minister and might ask him to submit a new list.
Thinni, a former career soldier, has been acting prime minister since March. He stood down after the June elections and the new parliament reappointed him at the start of this month.
The Misurata group has set up its own parliament and government, which are not internationally recognised.