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By Saber Ayyub.
Tripoli, 16 March 2016:
There will be no handover of power to Faiez Serraj or any “foreign imposed” government, the . . .[restrict]administration in Tripoli headed by Khalifa Ghwell has said. It also denied there had been any meeting in Tunis between the two men.
In a statement yesterday, the Ghwell administration said that it would hand over only to a government that was the result of the “Libya-Libya” dialogue.
In an interview with Reuters, Ghwell himself warned Serraj and his government not to come to Tripoli, saying that they would be arrested if they did.
“If they want to enter Libya as individuals they are welcome, because they are Libyans. We don’t advise them to enter Libya as a government, as to do so would be a violation to the law, and they will be treated according to the law,” the news agency quoted him saying.
Serraj has said that he plans to go to Tripoli possibly as early as this weekend. He and the Presidency Council were ordered to the capital by the UN-brokered Libya Dialogue negotiators last week to make security preparations ahead of the installation of his government.
Some members of the Dialogue told the Libya Herald at the time that if the Presidency did not go, it would be sacked.
If it goes, it is thought it will fly into Mitiga airport, controlled by Abdul Raouf Kara.
Meanwhile, in its statement, the Ghwell administration said that it ws working hard to resolve all of Libya’s political, social and economic problems despite very difficult circumstances. These included national and international pressure which, it claimed, were tantamount to a conspiracy against 17th February revolution.
Despite the Tripoli regime’s tough talk, many officials in Tripoli dismiss it predicting that the opposition to Serraj will disappear when he arrives because of substantial support for the Government of National Accord [GNA] from many of the militias. They also claim that Ghwell’s control pf the capital is extremely limited. “I’m not taking Ghwell’s threats seriously,” one top Tripoli official said today, adding: “Kara is cooperating with the GNA.”
Three different areas in Tripoli were already being prepared for the GNA’s use, the official added.
There are also reports that the heads of many Tripoli-based state bodies are switching allegiance ahead of Serraj’s arrival and that Serraj himself has agreed to reconfirm them in office.
Among them are said to be Sadek Elkabir, the governor of the Central Bank of Libya.
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