BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) -Libya's eastern-based parliament voted on Tuesday to replace Fathi Bashagha as prime minister, its spokesperson said, after he failed to take office in Tripoli where the incumbent Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah has refused to cede power. The parliament assigned Bashagha's finance minister Osama Hamad to take over his duties, parliament spokesperson Abdullah Belhaiq said, part of an apparent new push to oust Dbeibah and install a new government in Tripoli. Libya has had little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, and it split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions, though major fighting has been paused since a ceasefire in 2020. Diplomacy now is focused on bringing the parliament and another legislative body, the High State Council, to agree on rules that would allow an election to take place. The High State Council, which never recognised the appointment of Bashagha, called the parliament's move to replace him a "political absurdity" in a statement.
