The Libyan Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, has ordered – in a meeting with the Minister of Transpiration, Chief of General Staff, Ports Authority Director, Chief of Marine Staff, Al-Khums port’s chief, and the mayor of Al-Khums, among others – the Customs Authority and the Marine Resources Ministry to closely follow up on the situation of frigates that are illegally docked at Al-Khums port as well as the containers that have been left at the port over the years.
The meeting saw a discussion about the current entanglements at the port in Al-Khums, as well as the situation of the military naval base at the port, as Dbeibah reiterated the need for cooperation among all related entities to ensure a smooth workflow at the port and to resolve the issues that would arise ahead.
Dbeibah issued earlier a decision to expand the Turkish naval base in Misrata port to Al-Khums port. The decision faced a public backlash, as locals in Al-Khums protested against it, saying the port was their source of work.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Aqila Saleh called on the Presidential Council to assume its responsibility by halting the decision to expand the naval base to Al-Khums port, rendering Dbeibah’s decision as illegal and asking for obliging the Military Chief of Staff to halt the decision.
However, Dbeibah said at the meeting on Sunday that the agreement between the Ministries of Transpiration and Defense “should be revised to allow benefits to be made from the port and the naval base, in addition to striking cooperation between the two managements so they can avoid politicizing any legal administrative measures taken by the authorities.”
During the meeting, the Chief of General Staff, Mohammed Al-Haddad, said some of the information circulated in public regarding the naval base to be set up at the port in Al-Khums was untrue, explaining that the agreement for the military base was reached after thorough consultations among relevant authorities.
