Al Jazeera News :
An interim government allied with Libya’s eastern-based renegade commander Khalifa Haftar has resigned amid protests over power cuts and deteriorating living conditions.
Ezzel-Deen al-Falih, a spokesman for the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), said Prime Minister Abdallah al-Thani tendered the government’s resignation to Speaker Aguila Saleh late on Sunday.
Parliamentary spokesman Abdallah Abaihig said HoR lawmakers would review the resignation of al-Thani’s government, which is not internationally recognised, in their next meeting. No date has been set for the session.
Oil-rich Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gaddafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.
A 14-month offensive by Haftar’s forces to wrest control of the capital, Tripoli, from the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) crumbled in June, with the front lines now solidified near the central city of Sirte.
The HoR on Friday accused the Central Bank and the GNA of “plundering” the country and neglecting the east, in apparent efforts to deflect blame for the deterioration of public services.
In recent days, hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Benghazi and other eastern cities to protest against crippling electricity shortages and poor living conditions, setting tyres ablaze and blocking traffic on several major roads.
An interim government allied with Libya’s eastern-based renegade commander Khalifa Haftar has resigned amid protests over power cuts and deteriorating living conditions.
Ezzel-Deen al-Falih, a spokesman for the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR), said Prime Minister Abdallah al-Thani tendered the government’s resignation to Speaker Aguila Saleh late on Sunday.
Parliamentary spokesman Abdallah Abaihig said HoR lawmakers would review the resignation of al-Thani’s government, which is not internationally recognised, in their next meeting. No date has been set for the session.
Oil-rich Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gaddafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.
A 14-month offensive by Haftar’s forces to wrest control of the capital, Tripoli, from the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) crumbled in June, with the front lines now solidified near the central city of Sirte.
The HoR on Friday accused the Central Bank and the GNA of “plundering” the country and neglecting the east, in apparent efforts to deflect blame for the deterioration of public services.
In recent days, hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Benghazi and other eastern cities to protest against crippling electricity shortages and poor living conditions, setting tyres ablaze and blocking traffic on several major roads.
