Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, the outgoing prime minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, was given “clear” message by the United States that his government does not have “indefinite legitimacy”, said U.S. diplomat.
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf said her country’s “end game” for the political deadlock in Libya is “getting the 3 million who registered to vote the opportunity to elect a unified government for the first time in a decade.”
“We were clear with Dbeibeh that we don’t view his government as having indefinite legitimacy and that he must actively be part of the UN-facilitated process,” she told Egyptian news website Mada in an interview that was published on Sunday.
Despite this, Leaf explained that the U.S. does not share the same position as Egypt’s, which supports the rival Libyan premier Fathi Bashagha who was designated by the House of Representatives after it ousted Dbeibeh.
Nevertheless, the American diplomat believes that the U.S. “will find a way to leverage” its “different views” with the Egyptians.
“I told Egyptian officials that we see a responsibility to get as many of us, the foreign countries that have an interest in Libya, aligned so that [special representative for the secretary general in Libya Abdoulaye] Bathily can do his work without the interference of Libyans bringing one of their foreign benefactors or of foreign governments intruding for an agenda that doesn’t align with what Abdoulaye is trying to achieve,” Leaf said