June 3, 2021 at 10:20 am
Could Libya s first female foreign minister be forced out of her job, or will she survive the barrage of verbal abuse, criticism, incitement and political attacks? Although the attacks have subsided over the past couple of weeks, Najla Al-Mangoush must be preoccupied with the issue, particularly after a group of armed militiamen stormed the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli looking for her. In video footage on social media, someone can be heard asking the whereabouts of Al-Mangoush, who was not in the building at the time.
In fact, she was not the main target of the militiamen; Mohamed Al-Menafi, the chair of the presidency council, was. Council spokeswoman Najwa Wheba, in a tweet on 8 May, played down the incident by saying, Nobody was harmed in the attack since it is Friday [weekend] and nobody was there. Al-Menafi s chief of staff, Mohamed Al-Mabrouk, explained away the incident by saying that a group of field commanders came to discuss with the preside
There was no kidnapping, gunfire, or an attack on me or the hotel, the head of the Presidency Council s office, Mohamed Al Mabrouk, said in a social media video, adding he had been in the hotel at the time of the incident.
Mr Mabrouk said the head of the Presidency Council, which functions as Libya s head of state, would meet with the groups involved.
The Presidency Council was chosen through a UN-facilitated process that also selected a new Government of National Unity that took office in March, replacing rival administrations in east and west.
Armed groups based in western Libya have voiced anger at the Government of National Unity s Foreign Minister, Najla El Mangoush.
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TRIPOLI A senior official at Libya’s new Presidency Council denied on Saturday that groups who entered a hotel where the body meets had been armed or used force, playing down an incident that had appeared to illustrate the risks facing the unity government.
Earlier, the Council’s spokeswoman had said armed groups had stormed the Corinthia Hotel on Friday, though she also said nobody from the body had been in the building at the time.
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8 May 2021, 11:06 AM | Reuters | @SABCNews
Image: ReutersArmed groups based in western Libya have voiced anger at the Government of National Unity s Foreign Minister, Najla al-Mangoush.
A senior official at Libya’s new Presidency Council denied on Saturday that groups who entered a hotel where the body meets had been armed or used force, playing down an incident that had appeared to illustrate the risks facing the unity government.
Earlier, the Council’s spokeswoman had said armed groups had stormed the Corinthia Hotel on Friday, though she also said nobody from the body had been in the building at the time.
“There was no kidnapping, gunfire, or an attack on me or the hotel,” the head of the Presidency Council’s office, Mohamed al-Mabrouk said in a social media video, adding that he had been in the hotel at the time of the incident.
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