Libya’s interim government takes power after handover in Tripoli

The new cabinet is tasked with implementing UN-brokered political road map leading to December elections.

A transitional government in Libya has taken power in the capital, Tripoli, officially beginning a process designed to end 10 years of chaos and lead elections late this year. Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the outgoing United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), transferred power on Tuesday to Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah, and Mohammad Younes Menfi, who chairs a three-member presidential council. The ceremony in Tripoli came a day after Dbeibah and his cabinet were sworn in before legislators and Libya’s top judges in the eastern town of Tobruk. legislators had already endorsed the interim government last week amid international pressure to implement a UN-brokered political road map.