Prime minister-designate Faiez Serraj and most of the Presidency Council are reported today to be heading to Tripoli by boat in a last-ditch attempt to get to the Libyan capital. They are said to have boarded more than one vessel and are being provided naval protection on the journey.
The reports remain to be confirmed.
For they past few days, the council has been stuck in the Tunisian city of Sfax, waiting to go to Tripoli. They were prevented from flying in to Mitiga airport by the air. The Khalifa Ghwell regime which controls the capital has alternatively closed, reopened and again closed the airport in an attempt to keep Serraj and the Presidency Council out. It has also threatened to arrest him and the other members of the Presidency if they arrive.
Last week, it was widely reported that deputy PMs Ahmed Maetig, Fathi Majberi and Abdelsalam Kajman plus Mohamed Ammari, the Minister for Specialised Councils Affairs, had already arrived in Tripoli as an advance party. This turned out to be untrue although some Presidency Council officials are said to have arrived at Palm City, the west Tripoli residential compound where the new government is to be partly based.
Meanwhile, Ali Qatrani, the deputy PM who has suspended his membership of the Presidency Council, has called on Serraj and other members to resign, again claiming that it was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and that it would inevitably fail.
By Libya Herald staff.
https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/03/30/presidency-council-heading-to-tripoli-by-boat-report/
