Following in Saraj’s footsteps: Brotherhood-loyaist Dabaiba to head Libyan government

Shaimaa Hafezy

The third list won the vote of the Libyan Dialogue Forum in Geneva on Friday, February 5, 2021, including Abdulhamid Dabaiba as prime minister. Dabaiba is a businessman from Misrata, known for being close to the terrorist Brotherhood organization and his loyalty to Turkey.

Terrorist financier

Abdulhamid Dabaiba has been accused of being a financier for armed militias loyal to and affiliated with the Brotherhood, and his name was included in a list of those supporting terrorist activities issued by the National Defense and Security Committee of the Libyan House of Representatives in June 2017.

Three years ago, the committee presented a list of 75 people whose names it said were associated with personalities in Qatar or residing there, with the aim of including them in the list of the Gulf statement, after a decision by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, with a list of Qatari personalities and entities or that are sheltered and supported by Qatar, which constitutes a threat to peace and security in the four countries and in the region with its terrorist activities.

Gulf statement

Several Libyan names were included in the Gulf statement, among the list of classified terrorists supported by Qatar, including Abdul Hakim Belah, Mahdi Al-Harati, Ismail Mohammed Mohammed al-Sallabi, Al-Sadiq Abdul Rahman Al-Gharyan, and Ali Mohammed Mohammed Al-Sallabi.

Meanhile, the House of Representatives decided to add several other names to it, calling on the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Interim Government, Mohammed al-Dayiri, to address the four countries issuing the statement and to discuss the possibility of including them in the list announced upon its first update.

The list included 75 names and nine entities, which were attached to their letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Interim Government to take action with the foreign ministers of the four countries.

Abdulhamid Dabaiba is considered one of the most prominent members of the Dabaiba family in Misrata, which manages enormous wealth and is pursued on suspicions of corruption. He was accused of buying the debts of the members of the Dialogue Forum and paying huge sums to buy votes.

Dabaiba had pledged during his candidacy for prime minister to work to secure elections, support the High National Elections Commission, play a role in electoral education for citizens, and resort to international organizations, including the United Nations, to logistically support and monitor elections.

Libyan Dialogue Forum

According to the selection mechanism adopted by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, four lists of candidates for the Presidency Council, and for the Presidency of the Government, obtained the required recommendations, and the first list included Hamad Hassan Suleiman Al-Barghthi as a candidate for the Presidency of the Presidential Council, and in the membership of the Council were candidates Ali Abu Al-Hajj and Idris Suleiman Ahmed Al-Qaid. While Khaled al-Ghwail was chosen in the same list as a candidate for prime minister.

The second list included Sharif al-Wafi, who was nominated for the presidency of the Presidential Council, and with him in the council’s membership was Abd al-Rahman Muhammad Abu al-Qasim al-Balazi, and Omar Mahdi Abu Sherida, and in the prime minister, Muhammad Abd al-Latif al-Muntasir, and the third list that won included Muhammad Yunus al-Manfi as head of the Presidential Council, and among the candidates for membership The council included this list, Musa Al-Koni, Abdullah Hussein Al-Lafi, and the prime minister, Abdul Hamid Muhammad Dabaiba.

As for the fourth list, Aqila Saleh Qwaider was included a candidate for the Presidency of the Presidency Council, and in the council’s membership list there is Osama Juwaili and Abdul Majeed Saif al-Nasr, and for the position of Prime Minister the list included the candidate Fathi Bashagha.

According to the mechanism, the list that obtains 60 percent of the votes wins in the first round, and if none of the lists gets that percentage, a second round will be held to vote on the two lists that obtained the most votes in the first round.

Pledge of commitment

The United Nations had confirmed that the candidates for the positions of sovereignty had signed a commitment to abide by the road map, the date of the elections, and the results of the vote. This means that, if not hindered by any surprises, Libya will be scheduled to hold its presidential and parliamentary elections in late December.