The Prime Minister, designated by the House of Representatives (HoR), and who is now in alliance with Khalifa Haftar, Fathi Bashagha, is trying to convince Turkey to withdraw its support for the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who refuses to give up his position.
Africa Intelligence said in a report on Friday that Turkey is weighing up its options as the rivalry between Dbeibah and Bashagha entered in a dangerous status quo which is pushing “the militias to remobilize”.
According to the report, Ankara invited three of Bashagha’s representatives to visit Turkey between 22 to 24 March to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s advisers, and in particular with his intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan.
“This delegation was made up of the former number two of the Libyan Presidential Council Ahmed Meiteeq, the former head of the National Dialogue Commission and former boss of the National Economic Development Board, Fadel Lameen, and Mohammed Ahmed Farhat: a diplomat, at one time the unofficial representative of the Libyan rebellion in Brussels during the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, is now minister of state for prime minister and cabinet’s affairs in the executive authority formed by Bashagha.” It added.
The delegation, which flew to Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines commercial flight from Tunis, tried to convince Turkey to withdraw its support from Debeibah’s government and switch to Bashagha’s, the report added, saying that up until now, Erdogan has supported each successive Tripoli executive, and even helped Fayez Al-Sarraj’s government in 2019 to repel a military offensive against Tripoli which was led by Khalifa Haftar, who is now allied to Bashagha.
The report also said that over the past few weeks Ankara has been increasing its displays of openness towards the eastern camp, including announcing the reopening of a consulate in Benghazi, explaining that Bashagha had already established strong relations with Turkey when he was Al-Sarraj’s Minister of Interior.
