In what appears as a rift between Khalifa Haftar and his Madkhali backers, the Prime Minister of the Interim Government in eastern Libya Abdullah Al-Thinni has sacked the Head of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Authority Abdolmawla Al-Hasnouni - a man linked to Saudi Salafist-Madkhali sect - and replaced him with Abdelmatloub Erhouma.
Salafist-Madkhalis are supporters of Khalifa Haftar and have fought for him in Benghazi and Derna and are fighting now in Tripoli.
The new replacement is a Sufi person. Sufis in eastern Libya have been under heavy campaign of arrests with some of them being murdered by Madkhalis who fight for Haftar, besides the attacks endured by Sufi zawiyas and shrines.
Some Madkhalis said this decision is unjust and is a kind of backstabbing them after all what they did for Haftar in the east.
"The Salafist card has started to be burnt after Haftar has used well in his wars. Today Salafists lost their job in the eastern Awqaf authority with a Sufi replacement." Said a Madkhalit prominent figure in Misrata, Anwar Suwaisi, on his facebook.
Madkhali sheikhs have always been supportive of Haftar's wars with many fatwas issued for him and his forces, thus mobilizing all their fighters for his current fighting in Tripoli, promising them that they will go to Paradise if they die.
This Haftar-Madkhalis divorce is a matter of time as dictators usually cannot trust people who receive their fatwas and orders from a foreign country, according to observers, who say the timing of this rift between them is surprising as Haftar is still on the outskirts of Tripoli fighting for his survival.