Libyan authorities announced Tuesday an arrest warrant for a man accused of the attempted assassination of a minister earlier this month, saying the suspect had fled to neighbouring Tunisia.
Adel Juma, the minister for cabinet affairs in war-torn Libya’s UN-recognised government, was hit in the leg when an assailant opened fire on his car in the capital Tripoli on February 12.
In a statement posted on social media, the attorney general’s office said investigators had “identified the perpetrator” who had “left the country for Tunisia following the crime”.
The statement did not name the suspect, and said the attorney general “took necessary measures to prosecute him outside the national jurisdiction”.
Contacted by AFP, Tunisian authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
Libya has struggled to recover from years of unrest after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew longtime ruler Moamer Kadhafi.
The North African country remains split between the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, of which Juma is a member, and a rival administrated in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
As the minister for cabinet affairs since March 2021, Juma has coordinated between the office of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah and other government ministries.
Juma, who the government said had emerged from the shooting in a stable condition, is considered one of Dbeibah’s closest advisers.
Authorities have not shared their assessment of the possible motive for the shooting.
Another Dbeibah adviser, Ibrahim Dbeibah — who is also the prime minister’s nephew — was the target on an attack last year that caused no casualties.
In 2021, minister Fathi Bashagha, also from the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, survived an assassination attempt on a highway in the capital.
