Libya’s Presidential Council leader Fayez al-Sarraj on Wednesday said that he is willing to step down and pass his tasks and responsibilities to the new government to pave way for a peaceful transition of power in the country, reported Anadolu Agency.
“I congratulate the government of national unity for the vote of confidence and I wish the new Cabinet success in accomplishing its tasks,” Al-Sarraj said.”What happened today is an important step to end the conflict and division.”
He called on all parties to intensify cooperation, unity, and tolerance for the sake of the renaissance of Libya.
Al-Sarraj’s remarks came after the country’s House of Representatives gave a nod to the new Cabinet led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.
Last month, Libya’s rival political groups agreed in UN-mediated talks to form an interim unity government to lead the country to elections this December, where Dbeibeh was designated as the prime minister and tasked with forming a new government. He was elected alongside an interim three-member presidency council to head the new unity administration.
The parliament approved Dbeibeh’s cabinet, with 121 of the 132 lawmakers present voting in support after two days of intense debate in the central city of Sirte. The newly approved cabinet includes two deputy prime ministers, 26 ministers, and six ministers of state, with the key foreign affairs and justice portfolios handed to women, a first in Libya.
Dbeibeh described the parliament’s vote of confidence to his interim government as a “historical moment” and pledged to end the war in his country.
Meanwhile, the government led by the Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar also expressed full readiness to hand over tasks, ministries, directorates, and institutions to the national unity government in a Facebook post.
Libyans are hopeful that the new development will end years of civil war that have engulfed the country since the ouster and killing of strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011.
