Libya’s new Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq speaks at a news conference with members of the government in Tripoli. Libya’s new prime minister Ahmed Maiteeq on Monday held his first cabinet meeting at the premier’s office after police forces helped him take over the building. The North African country is struggling with turmoil and a political crisis as outgoing premier Abdullah Al-Thinni has refused to hand over power to Maiteeq who was elected by parliament in a chaotic vote last month. – Reuters

TRIPOLI – Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Maiteeq took over the Prime Ministry building with the help of Libya Shield forces and Libyan Revolutionaries Operations Room. Although force was used there was no violence or shooting. Maiteeq then held his first cabinet meeting there.

“A number of ministers of Maiteeq government headed by the Minister of Labor Mohamed Sualim, supported by armed forces, have occupied the building,” Congressman Abdullah Gmati from Gemenis told the Libya Herald.
“I was out of the building when they came,” Ahmed Lamin, the spokesman for the caretaker government of Abdullah Al-Thinni, explained to this newspaper. “They showed the guards a letter from the General National Congress ordering them to hand over the building.”

Officials working for the Thinni government were told to leave. A decision from the Supreme Court on the legality of Maiteeq’s appointment by Congress is expected on Thursday, and earlier today, according to a caretaker government source, there had been a meeting in the Prime Ministry to discuss a handover to Maiteeq if the court ordered it. “This morning a meeting was held in the Prime Ministry in Tripoli between the handover committees to comply with a decision by the Supreme Court on the legality of the process electing Maiteeq,” the source said. “However, after the meeting ended, suddenly some people came inside carrying a letter from the GNC accusing Thini of delaying handing over and they occupied the building.”

Seizing the building is a symbolic victory for Maiteeq but it is unlikely to give him the reins of power, which rest in Thinni’s hands for the moment. – Libya Herald