By Ajnadin Mustafa and Adam Ali.
Tripoli/Benghazi, 4 February 2015:
The report published by the Libya Herald yesterday that Major-General Khalifa Hafter has . . .[restrict]been appointed Commander of the Libyan Armed Forces and promoted to Colonel-General by the president of the House of Representatives (HoR), Ageela Salah Gwaider, has been denied by the chairman of the HoR’s Defence and National Security Committee, Musab Al-Abed.
He told this newspaper today that the matter had not been discussed in the HoR at its meeting on Monday nor was it on the agenda for the next meeting, Moreover, the President of the House of Representatives was not legally empowered to issue such a decision without presenting it first to a quorate session of the House. It would only become legal when it was officially announced by the HoR’s spokesman.
In any event, he added, the post of Commander of the Libya Armed Forces and the rank of Colonel-General do not exist in Libya law. Such an appointment would require legislation by the HoR.
Nor had any Military Council been set up, said Abed who represents Hay Al-Andalus in the House.
For his part, Mohamed Hejazi, the spokesman for Operation Dignity, has denied media reports that he and Operation Dignity had been calling for the establishment of such a council. It was disinformation, he told this newspaper – part of “propaganda warfare” by Dignity’s enemies.
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