Libya’s Tripoli-based government sacks its prime minister

Libya's legally installed government, the General National Congress (GNC), has removed Omar al-Hassi from his post as prime minister.

Omar Hemidan, the spokesman for the GNC, said on Tuesday that the decision was the first step for dialogue among Libya's warring factions.

"The meeting of the GNC today decided to oust Omar al-Hassi due to the government's lack of performance and complaints made by several ministers of the national salvation government," Hemidan told reporters.

Omar al-Hassi’s removal is believed to be a step in the right direction for Libya to achieve a government of national unity.

The GNC operates out of the capital Tripoli while the UN-recognised government, the House of Representatives (HoR), was driven out of the capital last year and has been confined to the small eastern city of Tobruk. 

In an effort to address the country's political crisis, delegates from the rival administrations have been meeting at UN-brokered talks in what has been described as one of the last chances to stop the country from plunging into a full-scale civil war.

Libya has been wracked by violence since the NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the rival administrations and their allied militias battling for power.