Libya's PM says eliminating militias is 'ongoing project' as ceasefire holds

By Ahmed Elumami

Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah said on Saturday that eliminating militias is an "ongoing project," as a ceasefire after deadly clashes this week remained in place.

"We will not spare anyone who continues to engage in corruption or extortion. Our goal is to create a Libya free of militias and corruption," Dbeibah said in a televised speech.

Dbeibah is the country's internationally recognized leader in the west, based in Tripoli.

After Dbeibah on Tuesday ordered the armed groups to be dismantled, Tripoli was rocked by its fiercest clashes in years between two armed groups. The clashes killed at least eight civilians, according to the United Nations.

The government announced a ceasefire on Wednesday.

It followed Monday's killing of major militia chief Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, and the sudden defeat of his Stabilisation Support Apparatus group by factions aligned with Dbeibah.

SSA is under the Presidential Council that came to power in 2021 with the Government of National Unity of Dbeibah through a United Nations-backed process.

SSA was based in the densely populated Abu Salim neighbourhood.

GNU's Interior Ministry said in a statement that nine decomposed corpses were found in a morgue refrigerator in Abu Salim-based Al-Khadra hospital. It said SSA never reported them to authorities.

The PM's media office posted a video of Dbeibah greeting the security force protecting the Prime Ministry Building. It said he later received delegations from elders to discuss Tripoli's situation and what he called "successful security operation in Abu Salim."

"The Prime Minister stressed that this operation falls within the state's fixed vision to eliminate armed formations outside the police and army institutions," the media office said.

On Friday, at least three ministers resigned in sympathy with hundreds of protesters who took to the streets calling for Dbeibah's ouster.

Dbeibah did not comment on their resignations.

"The protests are annoying, but I've put up with them. I know some of them are real, but a lot of them are paid," he said.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya expressed concern on Friday about the escalation of violence in Tripoli, calling on parties to protect civilians and public property.

Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi. The country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.

While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army, control in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous armed factions.

A major energy exporter, Libya is also an important way station for migrants heading to Europe, while its conflict has drawn in foreign powers including Turkey, Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

State-oil firm NOC said on Friday that its operations at oil facilities are proceeding as normal, with oil and gas exports operating regularly.