The Monday meeting that gathered the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Najla Al-Mangoush, and General Khairi Al-Tamimi in Benghazi had raised questions among the observers and media platforms. Some ask what common concerns or interests made Al-Mangoush meet a military man to talk about military issues, although she is a foreign affairs minister.
Moreover, it is known that Al-Tamimi is one of the military leaders of the military of General Khalifa Haftar, who had led the war against Tripoli in 2019 and 2020. And Al-Tamimi is a member of the 5+5 military committee, representing Haftar’s side, so what are the reasons behind this kind of meeting?
Observers talk about an expected meeting between Al-Mangoush and Haftar, accusing her of supporting Haftar in his games to rule the country militarily.
In another context, the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdul-Hamid Al-Dbaiba, had refused to meet Haftar and described him as a military man, especially after Haftar had prevented him from visiting Benghazi. Some find it strange that the GNU hadn’t commented on Al-Mangoush’s visit to Haftar’s Military leadership in Benghazi, although she is a civilian minister affiliated with the GNU.
A High State Council (HSC) member from Tripoli said that “we know that Al-Mangoush was nominated by Haftar’s side to become a minister in the GNU.”
“That is why Al-Mangoush needs to show Haftar some loyalty from time to time,” he added.
The HSC member stated that Al-Mangoush and Haftar are trying to embarrass Al-Dbaiba and the Presidential Council (PC) in Tripoli by showing them that Haftar is penetrating the political leadership in Tripoli. Some others say that foreign sides had pushed and supported Al-Mangoush to visit Haftar’s camp.
Observers say that Al-Mangoush was and still is one of the supporters of establishing a military system to rule Libya under the leadership of Haftar.
The observers added that the UAE had encouraged Al-Mangoush to meet Al-Tamimi in Benghazi to re-shuffle the political cards in Libya as usual.
On the other side, a former minister said that Al-Mangoush was accompanying the Italian Foreign Affairs Minister in his visit to Haftar, adding that she is taking advantage of being in Benghazi to visit her family and relatives.
