Libya interim govt. resigns to allow new cabinet formation

Libya’s interim government, led by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani, has resigned to pave the way for the formation of a new government after parliamentary polls in June.

In a statement released late on Thursday, Thani’s cabinet said it had resigned according to Libya’s constitutional rules to allow the House of Representatives to form a government “representing all Libyan people…and capable of re-establishing security and building a lawful state.”

Thani had been in office since March 11.

The outgoing administration said it hoped parliament, which it described as “the only legitimate authority in the country,” would form a new government “representing all Libyan people…and capable of re-establishing security and building a lawful state.”

The development comes three days after Libya’s General National Congress (GNC), which was officially replaced by the parliament elected in June, named Omar al-Hassi to form a “salvation government.”

“The GNC dismissed Abdullah al-Thani as head of government and gave Omar al-Hassi a week to form a salvation government,” GNC spokesman, Omar Ahmidan, told journalists in the capital Tripoli on Monday.

The GNC, which reconvened in Tripoli this week, has refused to recognize the new parliament.

On Wednesday, Libya’s ministers of industry, education, planning, labor, water resources and injured people’s affairs resigned after accusing the interim government of taking sides in the country’s inter-militia clashes.

Libya has recently witnessed its worst violence since the fall of longtime ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, in a popular uprising in October 2011.

Rival militias have been engaged in heavy fighting in Tripoli particularly over the control of Libya’s main international airport.

On August 14, Libya’s newly-elected parliament asked the United Nations for a military intervention to protect civilians amid relentless clashes.

The legislative body also voted to dissolve rival militias, giving them an ultimatum to join the military and police by the end of 2014.