Photograph by US State Department
The Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan has been kidnapped by armed militiamen in the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli where he lives and taken to an undisclosed location.
The militia group responsible for the seizure, Tripoli Revolutionaries Control Room, claim that they have arrested Zeidan on the orders of orders of the prosecutor general, but the Libyan government have denied this, saying on its website:
“The head of the transitional government, Ali Zeidan, was taken to an unknown destination for unknown reasons by a group thought to be from the Tripoli Revolutionaries Operations Room and the Committee for Fighting Crime”
One of them – Tripoli Revolutionaries Control Room – said it had arrested the prime minister, acting on the orders of the prosecutor general in accordance with Libya’s penal code.
This action comes days after US Army Delta Force commandos launched a mission inside Libya to capture suspected al-Qaeda leader Abu Anas al-Liby, with questions being asked about the complicity of the Libyan government in the attack, or whether the US infringed Libyan sovereignty.
The transitional government in Libya have been struggling to contain rival militias throughout the country that emerged during the Western-backed revolution to overthrow former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The militias remain well-armed and often have different loyalties and priorities to the official police and security forces.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has condemned the abduction, saying:
I condemn the abduction of the Libyan Prime Minister in Tripoli this morning and call for his immediate release. Our Ambassador is in touch with other members of the interim Government. It is vital that the process of political transition in Libya is maintained. The government and people of Libya have our full support at this concerning time.
