Libya FM suspended days before international conference

Libya's presidential council suspended Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush from her duties on Nov. 6 days before an international conference is to make a new push to restore stability to the war-battered nation.

The council opened an inquiry into alleged "administrative breaches" by Mangoush, spokeswoman Najla Weheba told the Libya Panorama television channel.

The El-Marsad news website, which is close to eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar, said that the council accused her of taking foreign policy decisions without consulting it.

A decree from the council said its vice chairman Abdullah Allafi would head a commission of inquiry that would report its findings within 14 days.

The political infighting in Tripoli comes amid a new international push for fresh presidential and parliamentary elections to help stabilise the war-battered North African nation.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is to join French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders at a conference in Paris on November 12.

Libya expert Emadeddin Badi linked the foreign minister's suspension to comments she made about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing in a recent BBC interview, and tensions between Libyan politicians over the elections.

Libya has been struggling to move past the violence that has wracked the oil-rich nation since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with political wrangling over the date of the twin elections the latest stumbling block.

A ceasefire between eastern and western factions last year led to a fragile unity government taking office in March, with a mandate to take the country to elections.

Part of an agreed roadmap was to hold elections on the same day.

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