The suspended Foreign Minister of the Libyan Tripoli-based Government, Najla Al-Mangoush, has said her controversial meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Rome in August 2023 was coordinated with Prime Minister Abdulhammed Dabaiba.
“The meeting was unannounced and we discussed security and strategic cooperation at the request of Dabaiba,” Almangoush told Aljazeera.
“The meeting touched on our common interests in the Mediterranean basin and the oil and energy issue,” she added.
“I told Dabaiba since the leak of our meeting with the Israeli Foreign Minister to go to the media to clarify the repercussions of the meeting, but he refused and dealt with the issue incorrectly.”
“My silence throughout this period was to await the investigations decided by the government, but no one contacted me despite my attempts and communication with many parties to find out the reason for not launching the investigations.”
“There is ambiguity from the side of the government that assigned me to our meeting with Israelis by demanding that I leave the country and not communicating with me regarding the investigations,” Almangoush pointed out.
Following public anger after the meeting, the Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dabaiba decided to suspend Almangoush from work as a precaution, refer her to investigation, and form an investigation committee, according to the text of Resolution No. 368 of 2023. The government has not announced the results of the committee’s work.