By Libya Herald reporter.
Malta, 13 February 2015:
Confusion continued today with claims and counter claims regarding the suspension, dismissal and investigation – . . .[restrict]or the lack thereof – of Interior Minister Omar Al-Sinki.
The official pro-House of RepresentatIves (HoR) news agency LANA said yesterday that the HoR was investigating Sinki. The head of the HoR Defence and National Security Committee, Fathalla Al-Saity has now denied the LANA report.
Saity posted late last night on his Facebook page that Sinki was ‘’still carrying out his duties’’, adding that ‘’the Cabinet was working on solving this problem and the HoR will announce its position on the issue’’.
‘’Minister of Interior Sinki was given a vote of confidence by the HoR’’, Saity added, ‘’and the withdrawal of confidence from him or any other minister is in the jurisdiction of the HoR. This also applies to the appointment of a replacement. The government can only nominate’’ he added.
‘’In my role as the head of the HoR Defence and National Security Committee, I had received a letter from the Interior Minister directed to the Prime Minister and urgent action will be taken with regards to it’’.
It will be recalled that Sinki was reportedly sacked by Thinni on Monday, four days after Sinki had given a controversial interview on 4 February to Le Monde when he was in Paris for talks with the French government.
In the interview, Sinki had accused General Khalifa Hafter of being a dictator and called for UNSMIL’s dialogue to be held in Misrata, his home town.
However, the Interior Minister did not accept his dismissal and posted on his ministry’s Facebook that only the HoR had the authority to remove him.
The Sinki episode only serves to provide further evidence that the nascent Libyan legislative and executive organisational structures and systems are still very weak and disorganized.
It will also be seen by some as further demonstration of the factionalism and tensions that exist both within the HoR and the cabinet, as well as between the HoR and the Thinni government.
One HoR member, asked about the episode, told Libya Herald anonymously its: ‘’crazy government’’. [/restrict]
