Libyan Supreme Commander of Army and Defense and Security Council tasked Coast and Border Guard and Ministry of Interior with securing western border crossings, during a meeting of the Defense Council, from which the President of the Presidential Council was absent for the first time.
This came during an expanded security meeting that comprised members of the Presidential Council, Musa Al-Koni and Abdullah Al-Lafi, in their capacity as the Supreme Commander of the Army, and Defense and Security Council, the Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, and the Chief of the General Staff, Muhammad Al-Haddad.
The President of the Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi, was absent from the meeting for the first time. Al-Koni and Al-Lafi, in their capacity as Supreme Commander of the Army, affirmed monitoring the security situation in the western region and the border points, and working to coordinate with the competent agencies to develop security plans to maintain the sovereignty and security of the borders.
US Ambassador Richard Norland held two separate meetings with the Presidential Council, the first with Al-Menfi, and the second with Al-Lafi and Al-Koni, without explaining the reasons for holding separate meetings.
Al-Lafi had announced that he was not aware of the meeting with Egypt that brought together Al-Menfi, Khalifa Haftar, and Aguila Saleh, and the resulting statement, stressing that the Council’s decisions are expressed in official statements issued by it collectively.
Following his comment on the Cairo meeting and the tripartite statement, Al-Lafi, Al-Koni, Takala, and Al-Dabaiba came out of Tripoli in a quadripartite statement in which they declared that they reject abroad dictations from abroad and any preconditions regarding the meetings planned to be held for the five main parties.
Libyans chant slogans for Gaddafi at Tarhuna Bank amid a liquidity crisis (video)