Libya PM Ethinni meeting with some field officers during his visit to Benghazi on February 1, 2015.
The Libyan Interim Government announced on Tuesday that it replaces the Interior Minister Omar al-Semki who has been on the job for less than four months.
The move reveals public pressure on a cabinet that is consistently accused of being unable to carry its responsibilities as well as political struggle within major institutions in the country.
Al-Senki was replaced by Brigadier-general Mustafa Al-Sadeq Buhrarah, an experienced police officer who held the position of chief of security of the southern major Libyan city of Sebha until 2011.
A letter signed by Prime Minister Abdullah Ethinni and dated 10 February 2015 said Buhrarah is to “conduct the business of the Interior Ministry temporarily until further notice”.
Buhrarah is resident of al-Baida city in eastern Libya where the Ethinni’s government is taking its headquarters. He was among the first high ranking security officials to join in March 2011 the uprising against the longtime dictator of Libya Muammar Gaddafi.
Media reports say that former minister al-Semki made controversial statement during an interview with the French Arabic Monte Carlo radio while on an official visit to France.
He dismissed the existence of the well-known Libyan army’s Operation Dignity which battling the Islamic State’s Barqa branch, Al Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia terrorist organizations in eastern Libya.
He was also accused of being having a role in creating tension between the Ethinni’s government and the commander of the Operation Dignity General Khalifa Hafter.
Mr. Semki publicly blamed forces under the command of General Hafter for trying to prevent the Prime Minister’s plane from landing in the suburbs of Benghazi two weeks ago. The army said it was not aware of the planned visit to a military operations’ zone and the premier should have coordinate with them first.
