By Libya Herald staff.
Benghazi, 24 September 2014.
The saga of two rival Libyan administrations continued yesterday as new members of Omar Al-Hassi’s “National . . .[restrict]Salvation Government” have been sworn into office in Tripoli.
One day after the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk voted to approve Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni’s cabinet, General National Congress (GNC) head Nuri Abu Sahmain presided yesterday over the swearing in of a number of Omar Al-Hassi’s “cabinet” members.
Those sworn in yesterday, according to Buwabat Alwasat and the Libyan news agency LANA, include Third Deputy PM Ali Mohamed Omar and Fourth Deputy PM Tayeb Mustafa Abdulsalam.
The following ministers were sworn in:
Minister of Industry: Muftah Ali Muftah
Minister of Transportation: Ramadan Zamit
Minister of Electricity: Noureddin Ali Salam
Minister of Education: Asmeda Tahir Al-Allam
Minister of Higher Education: Younis Abdel Moniem Mansour
Minister of Care to Families of Martyrs and Missing: Ragia Hassan Al-Guntry
Minister of Finance: Osman Younis Barasi
Minister of Housing: Hisham Mohamed Bubaker
Minister of Youth and Sport: Nasser El-Deen Mohamed Al-Buni
Minister of Wounded Affairs: Khalid Ibrahim Mohamed
This is the second swearing in of Hassi cabinet members. There was a swearing in of a number of them on 6 September. Three of the approved cabinet members were not present at yesterday’s swearing in and were possibly included with those sworn in on the 6th. These are: Minister of Planning Mohamed Ammar Al-Gadar; Minister of Awqaf Mubarak Salih Meelad Al-Warfalli; and Minister of Agriculture Ahmed Mohamed Abdulsalam.
There is also a considerable degree of confusion about members in his government. The names on his government list which he announced at the beginning of the month contain significant differences to those sworn in yesterday. In addition, three days ago, on his Facebook page he announced that he had reduced the number of ministers and converted several ministries into general authorities (such education, electricity, housing, local government, awkaf, health and economy) and that the oil and gas would henceforth be the remit of the National Oil Corporation (the Prime Minister, Abdullah Al-Thinni, had already decided the same).
In the event, there have been further changes with those plans apparently being ditched. The man whom he nominated as Minister of Oil, Mashallah Zwai, has taken over control of the ministry – as did the Minister of Tourism yesterday despite it reportedly having been suppressed, presumably on the basis that tourism is not a major requirement at the present.
Mohammed Agheirani, the former Libyan Ambassador to Jordan, has been appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. [/restrict]
