Reports about Fathi Bashagha being asked by Tunisia to leave the country were dismissed by Libya’s newly appointed government.
The Tunisian government, according to media reports, has requested Bashagha to leave the Tunisian territories, where he has been residing.
The Libyan Foreign Ministry termed the reports as “fake” and “malicious rumors targeting the bilateral relations between the government and its Tunisian counterpart,” a statement read.
Since the Libyan Parliament last month gave confidence to a new government headed by Bashagha, while sitting Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh insists on remaining at his post, tension has mounted in Libya.
Noting that it values its neighbor’s “efforts and the logistical and security facilities it provided to the government during its stay in Tunisia,” Bashagha’s government said it “is in constant coordination and consultation with the Tunisian government.”
Saying the meeting came ahead of plans to start operating from the capital Tripoli, the Bashagha government held its first meeting in the southern city of Sebha to discuss the government program on Thursday.
Dbeibeh, meanwhile, has reiterated his refusal to hand over power except to a government mandated by a new parliament that comes through elections, on Tuesday.
