Tripoli, 2 October:
Mahmoud Jibril has agreed to support the new government of Prime Minister-elect Mustafa Abushagur.
The announcement was made this morning on Abushagur’s official Twitter feed.
“I met with Dr Mahmoud Jibril yesterday and he agreed to the alliance’s participation in government. I will wait to the end of the day for receipt of his nominations”, the statement read.
A press conference has been planned for 2pm this afternoon at the Prime Minister’s office, and it is expected that further details of the development will be revealed then.
Yesterday, Abushagur’s office sent a press release stating that a planned meeting with Jibril did not take place. Neither the reason nor which party was responsible for the cancellation was provided.
The two men are known to have been in strong disagreement over several important policy areas. Yesterday, the Libya Herald reported that a major split had occurred within the NFA following the deadlock between Abushagur and Jibril, with several alliance members agreeing to submit candidates for the government independently of Jibril.
It is likely that this rupture played a part in influencing subsequent developments. [/restrict]
