Omer Al-Ghawari vowed to arrest the agency’s staff

The Head of Information and Culture Authority in the eastern government of Abdullah Al-Thanni has lashed out at the newly established EU-sponsored Libyan Cloud News agency, describing its correspondents and editors as traitors and spies.

Omer Al-Ghawari, on his official Facebook page, demanded Khalifa Haftar’s forces to take the necessary steps to arrest the correspondents and editors of the agency, accusing the European Union of interfering in the internal affairs of Libya.

“Security agencies and the General Command (Khalifa Haftar's armed groups) in Libya must take the necessary measures to capture the spies and traitors and thus ban any media or civil society organizations funded by foreign sponsors or linked to foreign departments. In addition, Libyan citizens should take the initiative to close shops of agents and hideouts of spies, and then expel them outside of Libya.” Added Al-Ghawairi.

The EU launched on Friday the Libyan Cloud News Agency in cooperation with Deutsche Welle (DW) Academy with financial support of 2.7 million euros and a headquarters based in the Tunisian capital, Tunis.

Relatedly, the National Commission for Human Rights in Libya condemned Al-Ghwairi’s threats, holding him fully accountable for the safety of the agency’s employees.