Having secured the political backing of the President of the High State Council, Mohamed Takala, and the President of the Presidency Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi, for his new ministerial appointments and reshuffles, Aldabaiba’s new-look cabinet emerged at the first 2026 Cabinet meeting held at the Cabinet Office in Tripoli last night.
Both Takala and Menfi addressed the Cabinet meeting in a show of support for Aldabaiba and his ministerial changes. He said this political backing reflects the firmly established and harmonious relationship between state institutions. Debatably, he insisted his ministerial appointments were within the Libyan Political Agreement, the much-fractured political roadmap that governs Libya’s current political impasse.
The new ministers are:
- Deputy Prime Minister (for the South): Salem Matoug Al-Zadma
- Minister of Culture & Knowledge Development: Salam Al-Alam
- Minister of Economy & Trade: Suhail Boushiha
- Minister of Education: Mohamed Abdesalam Al-Grew
- Minister of Finance: Rashed Abughufa
- Minister of Health: Mohamed Ali Al-Ghoaj
- Minister of Higher Education: Mohamed Ahmed Al-Dabib
- Minister of Housing & Reconstruction: Juma Al-Tamouni
- Minister of Industry: Mohamed Ali Abdulkader Saeed
- Minister of Local Government: Abdelshafie Hussein Al-Juwaifi
- Minister of Sports: Fuad Ahmed Bargoush
- Minister of Tourism: Nasreddine Milad Al-Fezzani
- Minister of Transport: Abdelgader Ahmed
- Minister of Water Resources: Hosni Mohamed Oweidan
- Minister of Youth: Haithem Yousef Al-Zahaf
- Minister of State for Digital Economy & AI: Ziyad Abdulwarith Al-Hajaji
- Minister of State for Women’s Affairs: Randa Gharib
- Minister of State for Human Rights & IDP Affairs: Jamal Abu Grain
- Minister of State for African Affairs: Fathallah Al-Zani
Comment and analysis
The posts of Minister of State for Digital Economy & Artificial Intelligence and of Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry for African Affairs are new creations.
The Minister of State for Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence replace the Minister of State for Economic Affairs.
Nevertheless, the main ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Oil & Gas, and Defence – remain unchanged. Aldabaiba did hint at the Cabinet meeting, however, that there could be more ministerial changes.
Is the Interior minister next?
Rumours have been circulating that the Interior Minister, Emad Trabelsi, could be one. Some analysts have interpreted his Ramadan Iftar events with various regional and security groups as an attempt by Trabelsi to garner support and avoid being reshuffled out of government. Time will tell.
In the case of the Defence Ministry, controversially, Aldabaiba insists on holding on to the strategic portfolio despite the long-held opposition to this by the House of Representatives and the Presidency Council.
The most important appointments?
With Interior, Foreign Affairs, Oil & Gas, and Defence unchanged, the most important appointments are probably those of Al-Zadma as Deputy PM and Boushiha as Minister of Economy & Trade.
Boushiha
With the US dollar nearer LD 11 than LD 10 on the foreign exchange black-market, sky-rocketing prices and a huge depreciation of standards of living, Libya’s deep economic crisis could potentially spiral out of control, threatening to bring down the Aldabaiba government. Demonstrations against economic conditions earlier this month were accompanied by gunfire near Aldabaiba’s Cabinet Office. This makes Boushiha potentially a key new appointment.
The predecessor Hwej
His predecessor, Mohamed Al-Hwej, was an elderly remnant of the Qaddafi era, having served as Economy Minister in that regime. Libya Herald was present at many economic events in Tripoli over the years at which Hwej spoke. Hwej often talked the talk but was never able to walk the walk. His speeches sounded very up to date and modern and he seemed to offer intelligent analyses of Libya’s problems and offered out of the box solutions. However, in reality, he failed miserably to launch Libya’s economy beyond its Qaddafi era shackles.
However, Boushiha, for his part, is not very popular and is perceived as being behind failed economic policy at his Ministry – including being accused of being behind the idea of the introduction of the new dreaded import tax. There is no solid evidence of this and ultimately, it was his Minister of Economy and now ousted Mohamed Hwej who failed to stringently adopt or oppose the taxes.
Hwej also had a run-in with the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) Governor, Naji Issa, as the Libyan dinar collapsed and dollar reserves were being depleted. Hwej blamed the CBL for failing to monitor and control the demand for dollar Letters of Credit (LCs) and imports. But rightly so, it is the Ministry of Economy and other government ministries or departments that should pre-vet applications for dollar LCs and license imports of goods according to the quantities and types of goods Libya needs to import.
Hwej was also very slow in implementing reforms including some kind of electronic monitoring and tracking system for imports to control what goods enter and had entered Libya. He also failed markedly, after decades of effort, to improve the ‘‘doing business in Libya’’ or the opening of a new business indicator.
Aldabaiba said his ministerial reshuffle was aimed at ‘‘injecting new blood into some positions and fill vacancies in several ministries and vital sectors’’. There is no ministry that desperately needs a new injection of innovative, implementable policies, away from the Qaddafi era economic legacy. The Ministry of Economy and Trade could be vital for the survival of the Aldabaiba government – and Boushiha could be key to that.
Zadma
The appointment of Salem Al-Zadma as Deputy PM has the potential to be a coup for Aldabaiba viz-a-viz his political battle with Hafter for the control of the south of Libya.
Salem Zadma, it will be recalled, had been the Deputy PM for the South of Libya in the rival Government of National Stability (GNS) in Benghazi. The appointment is a blow to the GNS and can be seen as undermining its credibility and authority. It also marks the final break of the Zadma brothers with the authorities in the east, both the GNS and the LNA.
Salem Al-Zadma is the brother of Hassan Al-Zadma, the former head of the LNA’s 128 Brigade which Saddam Haftar disbanded in January 2025. Aldabaiba is either hoping or planning for Salem’s new appointment to likely to have political consequences in the south.
If Zadma can get the south to align politically solely with Tripoli, it would strengthen Aldabaiba’s political kudos immensely. And if it leads to de facto control of the south and its borders it will strengthen Aldabaiba’s ability to control food, fuel, people and arms smuggling.
Controlling the smuggling of these would affect Libya’s coffers, saving on scarce dollars that are smuggled in the form of fuel and food imports. This could affect the LD-dollar exchange rate and rebound positively on Libyan citizen’s prices, inflation and standards of living.
The implication in this is the widely held perception that the Hafters are either actively engaged in or are turning a blind eye to massive cross border smuggling in the south of Libya.
It is a big if. Hafter will not give up the south easily. It underpins his rightful political claim, and legitimacy, that he controls more Libyan territory than Aldabaiba.
Ali Al-Abid
Finally, Ali Al-Abid who had been acting Minister of Education as well as Minister of Labour and Rehabilitation and the Civil Service, is back in his formal post as Minister of Labour. As acting education minister, he had been suspended last November by the Attorney General over the textbook scandal.
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