Armed convoy with military equipment arrives in Tripoli to shore up Dbeibah

A convoy of fighters moved into Tripoli from the city of Misurata on Saturday to shore up the interim prime minister amid a push by the parliament to oust him in favour of its own candidate, reports Ean Libya.

Interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah has sworn he will hand over power only after an election and has rejected the move by parliament this week to appoint former interior minister Fathi Bashagha to head a new government.

Saturday’s convoy, comprising more than 100 vehicles according to Ean Libya witness, arrived after Dbeibah earlier on Saturday accused the parliament of being “responsible for all this bloodshed and chaos” in Libya over recent years.

The parliament speaker, Aguila Saleh, has accused Dbeibah of corruption and of seeking to use his position for his own ends rather than to effect a meaningful transition.

Dbeibah was installed last year as head of the Government of National Unity (GNU), a body that was put in place through a UN-backed process to unify Libya’s divided institutions and oversee the run-up to elections in December.

After the election process collapsed amid factional disputes over the rules, the parliament moved to take control of the political process by declaring a new “roadmap” to elections and replacing the interim government.

This week it asked Bashagha to form a new government after a session in which the speaker said the only other candidate had withdrawn and then voted the former interior minister in with a quick show of hands.

Bashagha flew into Tripoli on Thursday night ahead of a two-week government formation process and said he expected Dbeibah to hand over power peacefully.