Libya rival PM says Cabinet line-up ready


TRIPOLI — Libya's prospective prime minister, appointed by the war-torn country's parliament as it seeks to oust interim premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah, said on Thursday his Cabinet line-up was ready.

"Prime minister-designate Fathi Bashagha announces that his government is ready and will be presented to the House of Representatives" for a vote of confidence, Bashagha's office said in a statement.

Libya's parliament had picked Bashagha earlier this month in a move against Dbeibah, whose rivals argue his mandate ended after elections set for December 24 were indefinitely postponed.

Dbeibah has repeatedly said he will only hand power to an elected administration, and has called for polls by late June.

In its statement, Bashagha's office said he had held "wide-ranging consultations with all political actors" including the House of Representatives and the High State Council.

The House of Representatives, based in eastern Libya since a 2014 flare-up in Tripoli, had picked Bashagha on February 10 to head a new administration replacing that of Dbeibah who was appointed a year ago as part of UN-led peace efforts.

The parliament, led by Dbeibah rival Aguila Saleh, had also approved a new 14-month roadmap to presidential elections.

The December polls, meant to help turn the page on a decade of conflict since the 2011 toppling of Muammar Qadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising, were postponed amid bitter divisions over their legal basis and who could stand.

Bashagha's statement did not say when the confidence vote would take place, but the House of Representatives said it had scheduled a session for Monday, without saying what for.

Dbeibah on Monday launched a diatribe against the "hegemonic political class", in particular the eastern parliament, whose "reckless" decision to replace him "will inevitably lead to war".

The United Nations and world powers have urged all sides to maintain calm.