Libya’s parliament-appointed Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha said that armed groups backing him have withdrawn from positions around Tripoli, after the UN warned of a new escalation in the divided country.
Libya has had rival administrations since the eastern-based assembly swore in Bashagha as prime minister earlier this month in a challenge to interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. Dbeibah has refused to hand over power to Bashagha, arguing that his own administration, installed last year under a United Nations-led peace process, had a mandate to rule until elections.
Pro-Bashagha forces had deployed on the eastern edges of Tripoli on Thursday, prompting the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to warn against any escalation. But Bashagha’s office said in a statement in the early hours of Friday that the groups had “opted not to use arms, and to return to their bases”.