On 24 December, the United Kingdom embassy in Tripoli, Libya, issued a statement on its Twitter and Facebook accounts that, at first, looked like a routine statement on developments in the country—something major countries' embassies, including the United States, used to do. Not this time. A few moments later, Libyans in their thousands, were flocking to social media platforms to call for the ambassador to be expelled. The statement reiterated the UK's support for elections but what enraged people is a sentence that says that the UK will continue to recognise the current Government of National Unity (GNU) as "the authority tasked with leading Libya to elections and does not endorse the establishment of parallel" authority. The current caretaker GNU government and its Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, have been accused of corruption, waste of resources and, above all, Mr. Dbeibah is accused of using public finances for his own presidential bid. There has been a debate among politicians if GNU should stay or not. On 27 December, Libya's parliament responded by announcing that the UK ambassador, Caroline Hurndall, is "persona non grata"— a diplomatic term meaning that she should leave the country. Since this is not the job of the parliament but the Foreign Ministry, the spokesman, Abdullah Blihaq, said that the Foreign Ministry has been notified of the decision. (https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211230-why-libyans-want-the-uk-ambassador-expelled/) It remains to be seen what action, if any, Libya's Foreign Minister, Najla Mangoush, will take.
No comments:
Post a Comment