Thinni’s new cabinet two more than HoR wanted: may not all be new faces

By Libya Herald Reporters.

Tripoli, 20 September 2014:

Prime Minister Abdullah Thinni has said that he be presenting his new slim-line cabinet to the House of Representatives tomorrow.  Three days ago the House rejected his planned 18-member cabinet and threatened to sack him. It asked him to chose a smaller line-up, which, it insisted, should include none of his former ministers.

However, it appears that at least one element in Thinni’s proposed new cabinet may cause fresh friction with Representatives. He had been asked to limit the ministers to eleven, including himself. Thinni said today that the list he will be submitting to parliament tomorrow evening contains 13 names. It may also be that some of them will actually be old faces.

Thinni speaking at a Tobruk press conference, said he was proposing “a government of specialists dedicated to resolving the crisis and tensions in the country”.  He added that he had stuck “as much as possible” to the HoR’s demands that none of the new cabinet should have held ministerial office before.

Thinni went on to repeat his determination that Libya Dawn forces should be held accountable for the fighting that saw them take over Tripoli and their continued attacks in Warshefana.  He said that his government would put an end to the violence there.  Armed groups who had murdered and looted were guilty of crimes under international law. All those actually involved and “those who stood behind them” would be brought to justice and punished some day, he said.

“We cannot tolerate a continuation of the occupation of the capital by outlaws” he said, adding that what was happening was a conspiracy to take Libya back to the days when opinion was suppressed and gagged.  In his view, what was happening at present in Tripoli far exceeded repression under the Qaddafi tyranny.

He said that Libya Dawn forces had been burning and demolishing houses, looting property and persecuting people on the basis of their identity.  All of this was to impose their will.

“We ask these groups to get out of Tripoli and lay down their arms” he said. He appealed to them to join in a comprehensive national dialogue that would seek radical solutions to all the problems that threatened to fragment and destroy Libya.

He went on to predict that attempts to revive the GNC were doomed to failure, because they lacked the democratic mandate that had been given to the HoR. The revived GNC was no more legitimate because it was being imposed by force.   The international community recognised the HoR and would not work with anyone else.

Thinni also warned that the overseas treatment of the seriously wounded from the fighting in Benghazi and Tripoli was being hampered by the government’s lack of access to the ministries and agencies in the capital.  This, he said, was creating a crisis for the wounded. With limited resources, he maintained that the government was doing all it could. Thirty seriously injured had been sent abroad today and a further 32 would be sent for treatment “in the near future”, [/restrict]