Libyan army spokesperson Ali al-Sheikhy said that Major General Khalifa Haftar, the former commander of the Libyan ground forces, does not control any military locations in the country. “All military sites are under the control of the defense and interior ministries,” he said.
Haftar had announced in a televised statement on Friday the freezing of the General National Conference (parliament) and its interim government, and launched a road map of five items, namely an interim governing body chaired by the president of the Supreme Judicial Council to be entrusted with sovereign and legislative powers, a national figure to be tasked with forming a limited interim government and a national defense council that reports to the presidency and assumes all military and security tasks, an immediate activation of the judicial institutions to achieve social and transitional justice, and the return of all immigrants.
He also said the Libyan National Army was obliged to do so in order to save the nation and allow the people to rule themselves through elections and build their modern state.
He added that this move is not a military coup in the traditional sense or the beginning of a military rule, as these methods have long been outdated.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
