Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibeh ( ar, عبدالحميد محمد الدبيبة also spelled Dbeibah; born 13 February 1959) is a Libyan politician and businessman who is the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

under the

Government of National Unity A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

(GNU) in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

. Dbeibeh was appointed on 15 February 2021 through the

Libyan Political Dialogue Forum The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) is an intra-Libyan political body involved in series of meetings started in late 2020, initially aiming to lead to 2021 Libyan general election, Libyan elections, Libyan peace process and "democractic le ...

, and he was expected to hold the office until

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

on 24 December 2021, which were later postponed.

Early life and education

Dbeibeh was born on February 13, 1959, in the western city of

Misrata Misrata ( ; also spelled Misurata or Misratah; ar, مصراتة, Miṣrāta ) is a city in the Misrata District in northwestern Libya, situated to the east of Tripoli and west of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. With ...

. Dbeibeh claimed to have earned a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in civil engineering from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 1992; however, the university has denied Dbeibeh's claims. The information was published days prior to December 24, 2021 Libyan elections, thus allowing for controversy over the Presidential candidate's false claims and fabrications in relation to his educational career. Under Libyan electoral law, candidates are required to have a university degree from an accredited university.

Business career

Dbeibeh returned to Misrata during a construction boom, gaining the trust of Libyan leader

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

, who appointed him as the head of Libyan Investment and Development Company (LIDCO), a major construction firm responsible for some of the country's biggest public works projects, including the construction of 1,000 housing units in the leader's hometown of

Sirte Sirte (; ar, سِرْت, ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups, and loyalty to Muammar G ...

. After Gaddafi’s fall in 2011, he was sanctioned for corruption by Libya’s new transitional government. Dbeibeh was the manager of the Al-Ittihad Football Club.

Political career

In 2020, he founded Libya al-Mustakbal (Libya Future) Movement. Dbeibeh has been described as an independent. Al-Dabaiba campaigned jointly on the presidential ticket with

Mohamed al-Menfi Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi ( ar, محمد يونس المنفي; born 3 March 1976) is a Libyan diplomat and politician from Tobruk. On 5 February 2021, he was chosen as the president of the Libyan Presidential Council at the Libyan Political Di ...

and

Musa Al-Koni Musa Al-Koni ( ar, موسى الكوني) is a Libyan politician and diplomat. He served as the deputy prime minister of Libya's Government of National Accord from March 2016 to 2 January 2017. He represented southern Libya, where he is from. He ...

as vice president. Al-Dabaiba's government is the first unified government since 2014. Dbeibeh was elected as

Prime Minister of Libya This article lists the heads of government of Libya since the country's independence in 1951. Libya is in a tumultuous state since the start of the Arab Spring-related Libyan Crisis in 2011; the crisis resulted in the collapse of the Libyan Ar ...

to lead a temporary unified executive in February 2021. Dbeibeh's list obtained 39 votes, five more than that of

Aguila Saleh Issa Aguila Saleh Issa ( ar, عقيلة صالح عيسى; born January 11, 1944) is a Libyan jurist and politician who is the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives since 5 August 2014. He is also a representative of the town of Al Qubbah, in ...

and

Fathi Bashagha Fathi Ali Abdul Salam Bashagha ( ar, فتحي علي عبد السلام باشآغا; born 20 August 1962), known simply as "Fathi Bashagha" or occasionally Fathi Ali Pasha, is a Libyan politician and the interim prime minister of Government of ...

. Dbeibeh faced accusations that he had attempted to bribe some of the delegates at the LPDF via his cousin, the wealthy businessman Ali al-Dbeibeh. The list including Aguila Saleh and Fathi Bashagha was perceived to be favoured by the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. The US ambassador denied any attempt to influence the electoral process. Dbeibeh was required under the agreements made by the LPDF to nominate a

cabinet of ministers A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries ...

and propose the selection to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

(HoR) for a vote of confidence by 26 February 2021, which was expected to establish the

. His position has been contested since 10 February 2022, after

was selected too as prime minister by the

Libyan House of Representatives The Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) ( ar, مجلس النواب, translit=Majlis al-Nuwaab, translation=Council of Deputies) is the legislature of Libya resulting from the 2014 Libyan parliamentary election, which had an 18% turnout. I ...

. However, Dbeibeh rejected Bashagha's appointment as prime minister, stating that he will only hand power after a national election.

Khalifa Haftar Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar ( ar, خليفة بلقاسم حفتر, Ḵalīfa Bilqāsim Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA) ...

and his Libya National Army welcomed Bashagha's appointment. On 10 February 2022, he survived an assassination attempt when assailants fired bullets into his car. According to a government source close to him, he was unharmed amid intense factional wrangling for government control. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

continues to recognize Dbeibeh as interim prime minister.

Personal life

He is the cousin and brother in law of Ali Ibrahim Dabaiba, previously the head of state-owned development contractor LIDCO, who was in 2012 on a list of sanctioned officials, subject of an Interpol red notice and arrested in 2014. He is estimated to have embezzled as much as $7 billion at 2011 rates from contracts LIDCO had issued under his leadership, per

Suisse secrets Suisse secrets was a February 2022 leak of details of more than CHF 100 billion (roughly US$108.5bn, €95.5bn or £80bn) held in nominee accounts linked to over 30,000 clients of Credit Suisse, the largest ever leak from a major Swiss bank. ...

Criticism

Wolfgang Pusztai, a former

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n diplomat based in Libya, said that Dbeibeh's reputation was contentious for the prime ministership, since he was alleged to be involved in "corruption, money laundering, financing of the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

, vote buying". Pusztai felt that the truth of the claims was irrelevant to the political situation of 2021, since it was the perceptions that counted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabaib, Abdul Hamid 1958 births Libyan politicians Living people Libyan businesspeople People from Misrata Prime Ministers of Libya