Najwa Wheba, the Official Spokesperson for the Presidency Council (PC), confirmed in a telephone interview on Libyan media yesterday the circulating reports that the PC had indeed dissolved all the Joint Military Operations Chambers (Rooms). The PC is the Supreme Military Commander in Libya.
Their raison d’être ceases to exist
Wheba explained that Joint Military Operations Chambers are ad hoc, created for a specific purpose and period, and that when their raison d’être ceases to exist, there is no longer any justification for their continued existence.
Applies to all Chambers
She stressed that the dissolution decision applies to all Joint Military Operations Chambers across Libya and helps the PC in its reunification of military institutions.
Not targeting Juwaily
The Official Spokesperson denied media reports that the decision was timed and aimed at Major General Osama Juwaily, the former Defence Minister and Commander of the Joint Operations Room in the Western Region.
Juwaily aligned to Bashagha
Juwaily, who hails from Zintan, is aligned to contending prime minister, selected by the House of Representatives, Fathi Bashagha.
Incumbent Tripoli-based caretaker prime minister, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, has refused to surrender power in Tripoli and has used aligned militias to prevent Bashagha from entering Tripoli.
Opposing militias, who are aligned to Bashagha, have been mobilising, on and off, on the outskirts of Tripoli threatening to use force to install Bashagha in office as prime minister. Juwaily has been leading these militias.
The mobilisation of opposing militias is threatening to lead to all out war in and around Tripoli and maybe beyond.
Misrata militia clashes increase Libyan tensions (libyaherald.com)
