People return to their homes in Syria's southern province of Daraa, on Sept. 9, 2021. Thousands of people started returning to their homes in Daraa on Thursday following the army's entry to the formerly rebel-held areas, state news agency SANA reported.Photo:Xinhua

Libya's presidential council suspended Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush from her duties Saturday 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 retired general 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 stabilize the war-battered North African nation. 

US Vice President Kamala Harris is to join French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders at a conference in Paris on Friday.

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 leader Muammar Gaddafi, with political wrangling over the date of the twin elections the latest stumbling block.

A cease-fire between eastern and western factions in 2020 led to a fragile unity government taking office in March, with a mandate to take the country to elections.

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

The UN Support Mission in Libya believes that a double vote would boost the "credibility" of the polls and "the acceptance of the results of the elections."

But there are deep disagreements between the government in the capital, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk, led by Aguila Saleh.

AFP