10 lawmakers who signed a UN-brokered deal to set up a national unity government in Libya have been sacked by the country’s unrecognized Islamist-backed government.
First deputy head of the Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC) Awad Mohammed Abdul-Sadiq on Tuesday told a news conference that his party had “sacked some of the members who signed” the December agreement in Morocco.
Abdul-Sadiq said that the sacked parliamentarians were reportedly not “authorized” to ratify the deal and were excluded from the GNC because they “violated the [2011] constitution” and their pledge to respect the charter.
The AFO news agency reports a spokesman as saying the decision affected 10 parliamentarians, including GNC vice president Saleh el-Makhzoum.
Libya has experienced chaos since 2011 when long serving leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted with the aid of NATO-backed forces.
The country had had two rival administrations since 2014, with the recognized authorities based in the far-east region of the country, and a militioa backed authority in Tripoli.
The UN and several countries have warned that delaying the formation of a government plays into the hands of the Islamic State group which has fed on the instability to spread in the country.
