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Libyan PM sacks foreign minister as row over Israel meeting grows
Reuters
August 28, 20239:25 AM PDT Updated 8 min ago

Summary
Foreign minister met Israeli counterpart in Rome
Israeli official: Meeting planned, lasted two hours
Dispute plays into Libyan governing crisis
TRIPOLI/JERUSALEM, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Libya's prime minister sacked
Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush on Monday in an effort to contain a
growing furore over Mangoush's meeting with her Israeli counterpart last
week, which prompted protests overnight in several Libyan cities.

Mangoush had said her meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in
Rome was unplanned and informal, but an Israeli official told Reuters it
had lasted two hours and was approved "at the highest levels in Libya".

The meeting is contentious because Libya does not formally recognise
Israel and there is widespread public support across the Libyan
political spectrum for the Palestinian cause of creating an independent
state in territory Israel occupies.

The dispute over the meeting has fed into Libya's internal political
crisis, giving ammunition to Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah's
internal critics at a moment when the future of his interim government
was already in question.

Libya has been without a stable central government since the overthrow
of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Dbeibah's interim government, in office
since 2021, is not recognised by some major factions and there is
growing political momentum to replace it with a new unified
administration aimed at holding national elections.

Protesters demonstrated in front of Libya's Foreign Ministry late on
Sunday, causing some damage outside the building, where a large security
presence was visible early on Monday. Protests took place in other parts
of Tripoli, as well as other cities.

Burning tyres blocked some major roads in Tripoli on Monday and the
Palestinian flag was raised in central Benghazi, but there was no sign
of violence.

Mangoush's office tried to quell the anger late on Sunday, saying she
had rejected a request for an official meeting with Cohen, but that they
had met during an unplanned encounter while she was meeting Italian
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

The Israeli official disputed that account. "The meeting was coordinated
at the highest levels in Libya and lasted almost two hours. The Libya
prime minister sees Israel as a possible bridge to the West and the U.S.
administration," the official said.

A second Libyan official said Dbeibah had asked Italy to arrange the
meeting in the hopes of gaining stronger U.S. and other international
backing for his interim government.

[1/2]Libyan Foreign Minister Najla el-Mangoush attends a joint press
conference at the conclusion of the Libya Stabilization Conference, in
Tripoli, Libya, October 21, 2021. REUTERS/Hazem Ahmed/File photo Acquire
Licensing Rights

"The government is afraid that international support will get weaker and
disappear," the official said.

A diplomatic source in Italy said Libya's and Israel's foreign
ministries had been in contact "for some time" before the meeting
without Italy's involvement, but that the two had asked for Italy's help
in providing a location to meet.

Since 2020 Israel has normalised relations with the United Arab
Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan through the so-called "Abraham
Accords" brokered by the United States, which sees further agreements
with Arab states as a key regional goal.

DIPLOMACY
Dbeibah's Government of National Unity (GNU), installed through a
U.N.-backed process, has pushed for stronger ties with all countries
involved in Libya, including the UAE and Israel's main ally the United
States.

Libya's parliament based in the east, which rejects the GNU, said on
Sunday it would hold hearings into the meeting with the Israeli
minister. The Tripoli-based Presidency Council has asked Dbeibah for
clarification on the meeting and the High State Council, another
important body, condemned it.

After fighting in Tripoli this month, many Libyans will be watching
whether armed factions opposed to Dbeibah use the dispute as a pretext
to move against him.

Diplomacy has focused on national elections to resolve the internal
conflict. Last week the U.N. envoy to Libya said a new unified
government was needed for a vote to take place, raising questions about
international backing for Dbeibah.

Italy has a small military contingent in Libya, oil and gas contracts in
the country and an interest in stemming migration from Libyan shores to
Italy.

Francesco Galietti, head of Rome-based political risk consultancy Policy
Sonar, said by hosting the meeting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
aimed to raise Italy's diplomatic profile but the move had proved "a
boomerang."

Reporting by Reuters Libya newsroom, Dan Williams in Jerusalem and
Francesca Landini and Gavin Jones in Rome; writing by Angus McDowall;
Editing by James Mackenzie, Peter Graff, Mark Heinrich and Conor Humphries

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