Gaddafi’s ambassador becomes head of Libya’s Presidential Council

Ahmed Adel

The United Nations announced on 5 Feb. Mohammad Younes Menfi the new head of Libya’s Presidential Council and Abdul Hamid Dbeibah the new interim prime minister in the country.

The executive power in Libya is made up of a Presidential Council that has a head and two deputies. The executive power also has a prime minister who acts independently from the council.

Moussa al-Kawni, a former member of the council, succeeded in winning another term inside it.

Who is he?

Al-Kawni hails from a Tuareg tribe. He was born in Gadamis, a town south of Libyan capital Tripoli. He is the younger brother of Libyan novelist Ibrahim al-Kawni.

He was responsible for transport in Awbari‎ town in 1985. In 1989, he was appointed as the secretary-general of the transport committee in the town. He then became the secretary-general of the transport committee in Fezzan.

Al-Kawni worked as Libya’s ambassador in Mali between 2005 and 2011. He then defected from the government of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi against the background of the 2011 events.

He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives and then a member of the General National Congress.

Al-Kawni also worked as the deputy head of the Presidential Council which was headed by Fayez al-Sarraj. He represented southern Libya in the council between 2016 and 2017. He then resigned from the council in protest against the failure of the UN-backed government in addressing Libya’s problems.

He said at a press briefing then that he walked out of the council because of the failure of the Presidential Council.

“I hold them responsible for the killing, kidnappings and wrap that happened in 2016,” al-Kawni said.