Tripoli is once again a victim of chaos and the power of the militias. It is the Front el-Soumoud, the brigade led by Salah Badi, originally from Misrata, which has surrounded the seat of government as well as that of the Presidential Council since midnight. No reaction from the presidency or the government has been made for the moment regarding these events.
Clashes took place overnight, but the forces responsible for the security of official buildings withdrew to prevent the situation from escalating. Dozens of military vehicles and armed men belonging to this brigade have been gathering since Thursday morning, December 16 in the city center of the capital and on the road to the Corniche.
Salah Badi, a militia leader close to the Muslim Brotherhood and representing the toughest wing of this movement, is not his first coup. Already in 2014, he had put his men in the streets to denounce the results of the legislative elections. Hit since by sanctions from the United States and the UN Security Council, this time he announces that he wants to try everything to defeat the presidential election, still officially scheduled for December 24.
In a video released shortly before the Tripoli attack, he appeared with guns in hand threatening all those in power who are in favor of holding the ballot. For him, the current leaders are “traitors, enemy agents, and scum”. He threatened to shut down all state institutions that he said serve foreign countries more than they serve Libya.
He also denounced the special advisor to the UN secretary-general, the American Stéphanie Williams who, he said, remained silent in the face of the attack on Tripoli carried out two years ago by Khalifa Haftar after an American green light. Stéphanie Williams was precisely this Wednesday in Misrata where she met with civilian and military officials “who are for the political solution” she wrote on Twitter.
