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Libya's UN-backed gov't to move to Tripoli: PM

Xinhua, March 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Libya's UN-backed prime minister said on Thursday that the new government will move to the capital Tripoli in the next few days.

"We have successfully communicated with the sovereign institutions in the west and the east, including the financial institutions. I would like to assure to everyone that the Government of National Accord will be in Tripoli in a few days," the prime minister, Fayez Serraj told the Jordan-based Libya channel.

He said there is a plan involving police and military forces in the capital, as well as the United Nations, to facilitate the new government's move to Tripoli.

"The police and the army will be protecting the government in the capital. Other armed groups will have a role, under regulations and standards, which will be clear to everyone when we are in Tripoli," Serraj said.

The government of national accord was named by the presidential council, which was formed under a UN-sponsored political agreement between Libya's political rivals.

However, Serraj's government faces opposition from both rival parliaments. Tripoli's self-proclaimed government on Wednesday warned the unity government against entering the capital, claiming the move to Tripoli would be "illegal".

Libya suffers a political division with two rival parliaments and governments, one in the east and the other in the west, battling for legitimacy, as the Islamic State controlled land in the country expands. The country is struggling to make a democratic transition since the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011. Endit