30 September – 6 October: HoR Speaker Saleh prepares trial conference

Oct 7, 2020 | Libyan actors

On 3 October, HoR Speaker Aqeela Saleh met with the eastern-based interim government’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Abdul Hadi al-Huweij, to discuss preparation for a tribal conference to be held in Sirte on 10 October. This followed a meeting on 30 September between al-Huweij and the Prime Minister of the interim government, Abdullah al-Thinni, briefing him on the event details.

On 30 September, the Attorney General’s Office announced that several top Libyan officials had been arrested or charged with corruption. The officials included the Tripoli local government minister and his deputy, the Tripoli local government’s deputy health and education ministers, the mayor of Beni Walid, the manager of Sebha hospital and the manager of the accounts department of the Tripoli government’s finance ministry.

On 29 September, the GNA’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that it had opened enrolment for those wishing to join its armed forces. In its announcement, the MoD specified certain criteria for eligibility and indicated that training for the newly-enrolled would occur in an unnamed ‘friendly country’ – this could be a reference to either Turkey or Tunisia.

On 29 September, a district court judge in Alexandria, Virginia ruled that lawsuits against LNA Commander Khalifa Haftar filed by families claiming that their family members were killed indiscriminately during LNA military campaigns in Libya should go forward. However, the judge dismissed claims against Haftar’s two sons, and ordered a stay on the case for 60 days while she solicits an opinion from the US State Department on whether allowing the suits to proceed would interfere with diplomatic efforts.