The Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Aqila Saleh has said in a session for the HoR on Monday that the only legitimate government in Libya “is the government designated by the HoR (Osama Hammad’s” and that the presence of another “is the cause of corruption and disagreement.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister-designate Hammad addressed the HoR members and lashed out at the role the UN envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, had been playing.
Hammad described Bathily’s latest statements about the “absence of a national army” in Libya as “a way of underestimating the role of the army mandated by the HoR.”
He also said that the Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) had been tackling the Libyan crisis in an unprofessional manner, reiterating that the HoR was dealing with his government in avery legal way despite the rejection of the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, to hand over power.
Meanwhile, the HoR rejected the invitation of the United Nations’ (UN) envoy Abdoulaye Bathily for a meeting of the main Libyan stakeholders to discuss election laws and points of contention.
The HoR said it would not attend any dialogue or be part of any political agreements that could disrespect the will of Libya and the elected legitimate institutions. It also rejected any participation in new initiatives that would repeat previous failed experiences leading to no solutions to the crisis, saying that it would not recognize the outcomes of such initiatives.
Bathily has extended invitations to key Libyan institutional stakeholders to attend a meeting in the coming period to reach a settlement on the politically contested issues pertaining to the implementation of the electoral process.
