Abdelhamid Dbeibah, Libya’s interim Prime Minister, decided to postpone his planned visit yesterday, Monday 26 April, to Benghazi, the stronghold of Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The government spokesman confirmed this by saying that the visit will be rescheduled as soon as possible without further details.
The full government was to hold its third regular meeting since its appointment in March in Benghazi. The full cabinet of the Libyan National Union government moved on Sunday evening to the Maïtigua airport in Tripoli to take off to Benghazi, before turning back. It seems that security reasons prevented this trip.
According to a government source, the Prime Minister decided to cancel this visit, at the last minute: his security team responsible for overseeing the trip had just been turned away from Benghazi airport.
Composed of about 75 members, the security team refused to relinquish its weapons and tried to control the lounge of honor, this is what is assured on the side of the forces of Marshal Haftar, responsible for the security of the place. It is also claimed that militiamen from Tripoli were in the government security delegation. They reportedly refused to show their identity documents and to allow their luggage to be searched.
The Prime Minister’s trip to Benghazi was supposed to include a meeting with the strongman of eastern Libya, Marshal Haftar. This cancellation highlights the divisions that persist between the two camps in eastern and western Libya, as well as the fragility of the political process underway.