REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TRIPOLI -- Libya's U.N.-backed unity government held meetings at a heavily guarded naval base in Tripoli on Thursday and a senior military official said it was working to secure state institutions in the capital.

The government's leaders arrived at the naval base by ship from Tunisia on Wednesday in a high-risk bid to take power, after being prevented from flying in when opponents closed down Tripoli's airspace.

The capital has been mostly calm since their arrival, though a TV station that supports Tripoli's separate, self-declared National Salvation government was taken off air late on Wednesday and there were brief clashes close to the city centre.

On Thursday, members of the unity government and its seven-member Presidential Council held meetings with local council leaders at the naval base.

Abdulrahman Taweel, a brigadier general in charge of organising protection for the new government, described the base as "completely secured".

"We are working to secure all other state institutions," he told Reuters, without elaborating. "The Council is here to stay and to continue their work here in Tripoli. They will not leave except for international meetings and will return."

The Presidential Council and the Government of National Accord (GNA) emerged from a U.N.-mediated deal signed in December.

Western powers hope they will be able to request and channel foreign support for confronting Islamic State and tackling migrant flows from Libya towards Europe.

They have recognised it as Libya's sole legitimate government and called for a rapid transfer of power, but both the National Salvation government and a rival administration in the east have rejected this.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika