Kidnapped Libyan prime minister freed

mangaloretoday.com

TRIPOLI (Reuters), Oct 10: Libya’s prime minister was seized and held for several hours on Thursday by former rebel militiamen angry at the weekend capture by U.S. special forces of a Libyan al Qaeda suspect in Tripoli.

Ali Zeidan was freed unharmed but the incident underlined the anarchy prevailing in the oil-rich North African state, two years after the Western-backed overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.

"Libyans need wisdom ... not escalation ... to deal with this situation," he told his cabinet in remarks broadcast on television after his six-hour ordeal in the capital.

 

Gunmen associated with the fragmented Libyan security apparatus had hauled him at dawn from the luxury hotel where he lives under heavy guard. Political sources said the group soon relented in the face of pressure from officials and freed him.

Zeidan, in his televised remarks to the cabinet, thanked some militia who had helped negotiate his freedom and urged them to join the state’s military forces. That is a plea that Libyan leaders have been making since Gaddafi fell, to little effect. Armed bands see little gain in giving up their guns and freedom.

Zeidan had distanced his government from U.S. assertions it had cooperated in Saturday’s capture of Abu Anas al-Liby, wanted for the al Qaeda bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya in 1998. [ID:nL6N0HW0CO] But the group which seized the premier appeared to hold him responsible for helping Washington’s operation.

His brief detention was the latest of many incidents that demonstrate Libya’s post-Gaddafi turmoil. Its vulnerable central government and nascent armed forces are struggling to contain rival tribal militias and Islamist militants who control large parts of the country.

Geoff Porter of North Africa Risk consulting said: "His kidnapping clearly indicates that his government is not cohesive, and that not only is his government not in control of the country, but that he is not in control of his government."

The militia, which was hired by the government to provide security in Tripoli, said it had "arrested" Zeidan after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Libya had a role in the capture of Liby, whose real name is Nazih al-Ragye.

"His arrest comes after ... (Kerry) said the Libyan government was aware of the operation," a spokesman for the group, known as the Operations Room of Libya’s Revolutionaries, told Reuters. Facing criticism from other groups, the spokesman later denied that the Operations Room was involved.