Abdullah al-Thani

Abdullah al-Thani
Prime Minister of Libya Disputed
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 March 2014* Acting: 11 March 2014 – 8 April 2014
President	Nouri Abusahmain Aguila Salah Issa
Preceded by	Ali Zeidan
Personal details
Born	1954 (age 60–61)[1]
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Royal Libyan Military Academy
*The premiership has been disputed between Thani and Khalifa al-Ghawi since 31 March 2015.

Abdullah al-Thani (Arabic: عبد الله الثني‎  Libyan pronunciation: [ʕæbˈdɑllɑ tˈtini, -ˈθæni]) is a Libyan politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Libya since 11 March 2014, when he took over in an interim capacity after Congress dismissed Ali Zeidan.^[2] He was previously the defence minister in the government of Ali Zeidan.^[3]

Prime Minister

In April 2014, al-Thani negotiated the reopening of two out of four oil ports seized by rebels.^[4] Also, after he threatened to resign, the Congress officially confirmed him as prime minister in a permanent capacity and vested him with greater powers to deal with Libya's problems.^[2]

However, al-Thani submitted his resignation as prime minister on 13 April 2014, although he was asked to stay on as a caretaker until the election of a successor.^[5] Ahmed Maiteeq was eventually elected as the new prime minister, but Maiteeq's election was voided on 9 June and al-Thani was reinstated as caretaker.^[6]

After the election of a Council of Deputies to govern Libya, al-Thani attended the opening ceremony of the new parliament in Tobruk on 4 August 2014.^[7] He and his cabinet again resigned on 29 August 2014,^[8] citing a need to give the controversial new parliament a chance to choose a new, inclusive government^[9] after Islamist lawmakers convened a new meeting of the General National Congress in Tripoli and declared al-Thani dismissed, although he defended the elected Council of Deputies as "the only legitimate authority in the country".^[10] The next week, however, the Tobruk-based lawmakers reappointed al-Thani as prime minister and tasked him with forming a "crisis government".^[11]

With Libya sliding into civil war between the two rival governments, al-Thani ordered General Khalifa Haftar to "liberate" Tripoli in October 2014.^[12] In March 2015, following the start of a military intervention in support of the internationally recognised government in Yemen, al-Thani compared the situation in his country to the situation in Yemen and said Libya would call on the Arab League to "restore legitimacy".^[13]

References