Speaking in an hour and forty-minute-long interview last Sunday (6 July) to Libyan media outlet Libya Al-Ahrar, Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, said armed formations, which he said are sometimes referred to as militias, that are not affiliated with the Ministries of Defence or Interior were formed because of the security conditions after 2011.
He said he had hoped that these militias would join the state institution, but to no avail until they became a state within the state. Some of these have become ”criminal gangs”.
Aldabaiba admitted that reinstating the state and ending militias is a difficult job. Quoting an English idiom he said ‘‘It’s a dirty job and somebody must do it’’.
Militias conducting a coup against the state
What these militias are doing is a coup against the state and not the government, as these militias imported weapons by aircraft from other countries without the knowledge of state institutions, and the weapons possessed by these formations exceed what the state owns and were used to blackmail the official state agencies.
The Stabilization Support Agency (SSA) used to prevent citizens from submitting complaints to the police, and the cases are now in the hundreds before the Attorney General, who issued about 125 arrest warrants against defendants who are now in the vicinity of Mitiga Airport.
Indicating a lack of unity with the Presidency Council, he said he was surprised by the decision of the Presidency Council to name a new head of the (SSA).
He said his government is working on a review with the Presidency Council after understanding with it, and that both agree to confront any criminal, as the criminal must be subject to the judiciary and the Public Prosecution, and the organs that follow the Presidency Council in accordance with the Geneva Agreement are the General Intelligence Service, and the Presidential Guard only.
No regrets in confronting militias in Tripoli despite fallout
Asked if he regrated the fallout from confronting militias in Tripoli, Aldabaiba indicated that he did not regret confronting criminals. He insisted that criminals must be pursued and referred to the Attorney General. Asked why the sudden change of tact and adoption of a confrontational policy against militias. Militias had become too big, he said and a big threat on the state.
Conditions for avoiding war against criminal gang militias
In a clear warning to the Salafi militia warlord Abdel Rauf Kara and his Special Deterrence Force (SDF / RADA), Aldabaiba said the conditions for avoiding war against militias is that they must hand over wanted persons to the Public Prosecutor, subject the airport, port and prisons to the authority of the state and disband the militias. Mitiga prison must be ‘‘freed’’, he insisted.
He said whoever rejects these conditions he could not guarantee what will happen to them, and the message is clear to everyone. The time has come for the state he said and over for militias. We cannot continue with the old ways, he said. its time to return the state, he insisted.
He said he is innocent of those (SDF/RADA) who try to kidnap the Sug Il Juma area and use its people as human shields.
But Aldabaiba clarified that he is not fighting Salafism (a Saudi based interpretation of Islam) as a method that he respects, but rather he is hostile to outlaws who use the descriptions of “Sheikh and Hajj” to offend the state. I am not against a religious way or tribe or area – I am against the criminal use of these.
I will fight against justice even if I lose my government. I will fight for the people against criminals, he insisted.
There will be no chaos if there were confrontations with criminal militias, he insisted and requested that he ability of the interior Ministry and Defence Ministry must not be underestimated.
Aldabaiba said he will personally take responsibility for managing areas and prisons after the armed formations leave them.
I do not deal with Hafter in secret
Aldabaiba said he did not deal with Haftar or the government of the east secretly
Regarding the eastern based Arkno Oil Company for the sale of oil outside the institution serves how it serves the Waha Company and other companies, he explained.
He said he had transferred the subject of Arkno Company to the regulatory authorities, the Attorney General and the Audit and Administrative Control Authority.
He said he awaits the day the Attorney General says that there is a defect in the company and then they will not take seconds to stop this company or others from operating.
