A statement attributed to the General Command of the National Army confirmed that cutting salaries for the armed forces means cutting off the lives of half a million people, the families of soldiers and officers.
Protests, demands and queues in order to obtain services, such is the general situation inside Libya, which lacks most daily living services, in light of the continued state of uncertainty and conflicting statements, especially about the budget.
The Central Bank of Libya announced the expenses of 2021, which amounted to 24.5 billion dollars, in less than 24 hours after the caretaker government published its expenses, which it claimed did not exceed 19 billion dollars.
The Central Bank indicated that a deficit in expenditures amounted to “1.6 billion dollars”, which was covered by foreign exchange reserves in return for revenues that entered the account of the Central Bank.
It is worth noting that Dabaiba said that the 2021 budget is the lowest compared to the budgets of previous years, starting with the 2012 budget. According to what was published by the Dabaiba government’s “Our Government” platform, the 2021 budget amounted to about $19 billion.
Statements that analysts and experts described as largely unrealistic, given the many crises besieging the Libyan street as a result of the government’s actions.
In the same context, the Libyan academic Mohamed Al-Douri said that the interim government paid more attention to the propaganda aspect than the service aspect.
Al-Douri added, in statements to “Sky News Arabia”, that the Dabaiba government, in addition to the crises it issued to the street, failed in its main mission, which is to conduct the electoral elections.
Failed to create the atmosphere
Presidential elections were postponed after a state of political stalemate that completely dominated the Libyan scene, and here the academic Mohamed Al-Douri confirmed that this situation in the country was caused by the government in general, especially its President Dabaiba, who reneged on his promises not to run in the presidential elections and only work to create the atmosphere for this entitlement.
Al-Douri explained that Dabaiba’s candidacy affected the entire electoral process, asking: “Does the government deal with the Libyans as an official or as a supporter of its representative in the elections?” He continued, “Where is the ratification and transparency? All the government’s steps are propaganda, not service.”
The Libyans accuse the interim government of causing disruption to the elections by failing to create the atmosphere, and a large part of the budget was spent on propaganda projects, not on the electoral process.
The parliament is also currently working on considering the continuation or replacement of the government, which was tasked with preparing for the presidential elections.
In the same context, the Libyan writer and political analyst, Hussein Moftah, stressed that despite the unprecedented budget in the history of Libya that was allocated to this government, and exceeded 100 billion dinars, it was unable to achieve its primary goal, which is the elections.
Muftah attributed this to the fact that the government “was preoccupied with secondary files that made it distract from the main goal, which made it waste time, money and opportunity.”
corruption cases
Regarding the accusations leveled at the government during the past few days regarding the worsening of the crisis, political researcher Mohamed Al-Barjawi said that the corruption cases that were exposed in the past weeks and the decisions to imprison ministers and officials, illustrate the extent of the seriousness of the internal situation and the extent of the functioning of that outgoing government, from which the Libyan citizen only benefited from crises. As he says.
Al-Barjawi pointed to the state of loss of confidence in that government on the part of the Libyan street, as a result of the numerous crises and corruption cases that are exposed daily, until it became called in the street “the government of the wanted.”
For his part, military analyst Muhammad al-Tarhouni said: “Since the beginning of the caretaker government, it has been trying to devote all the capabilities of the state to its service, and trying to whitewash its president, Dabaiba.”
Al-Tarhouni continued, during his statement to “Sky News Arabia”, saying: “Everyone knows who runs the media tool to justify any mistake by the government. Those who support and justify are people who contributed to the fight against the National Army in 2014.”
During the past weeks, the executive authority was shaken by legal cases involving two of its ministers in just 10 days, while Dabaiba defended his arrested ministers.
Multiple crises
Commenting on the crises experienced by the Libyan people, Al-Tarhouni said that the government had plunged the people into the dark tunnel, as a result of irresponsible expenditures and money that was wasted and did not achieve any development or improvement in the individual’s level.
The military analyst explained that the street suffers from crises in all aspects of daily life, from electricity, health, education, services and salaries, unlike the state of chaos and insecurity, especially in the capital, Tripoli, which is controlled by armed militias.
With regard to the file of the presence of foreign forces, the military expert, Alaa Al-Ghazouli, said that the interim government’s handling of that crisis was very superficial, and even reached the point of working against what was agreed upon and trying to disrupt the work of the 5 + 5 Military Committee, and it also worked at times. To justify the presence of mercenaries and try to provide political support to the armed militias that control all government joints in the capital, Tripoli.
The military expert added, in a statement to “Sky News Arabia”, that the file of the militias, the unification of the security services, imposing stability and preparing for elections are all files in which the current government has achieved a catastrophic failure.
The Libyan people suffer from many crises and the lack of services that affected all aspects of daily life, and many cities witnessed demonstrations and protests against the decline in services and the role of the caretaker government.
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