Six Libyan ministers resigned Wednesday, accusing the interim government of taking sides in the country’s inter-militia fighting, the official Libyan News Agency LANA reported.
The ministers of industry, education, planning, labour, water resources and injured people’s affairs resigned from the interim government headed by Abdullah al-Thinni, according to the report.
“The resignations have come against the backdrop of the government’s bias towards one of the disputing sides,” said Seliman al-Lateef, who quit as industry minister, quoted by LANA. In the comments, he did not specify which side the government was reportedly backing.
“The six ministers tried to remain within a coherent government, but the head of the government took decisions without their knowledge,” he added without giving details.
In recent months, Libya has seen its worst violence since the ouster of longtime dictator Moamar Gaddafi in 2011.
Islamist militias opposed to the newly elected parliament have consolidated their foothold in the capital, Tripoli, in recent days, leading to the escalation of a violent power struggle in parts of the country.
The House of Representatives – elected to replace the Islamist-dominated interim parliament, known as the National Congress – has repeatedly called upon the United Nations to intervene in the country.
The parliament has been meeting in the smaller eastern city of Tobruk, which has remained stable.
Members of the National Congress – whose term of office expired in February – held a session in Tripoli this week, reportedly at the behest of the triumphant Islamist militias. The body named university professor Omar al-Hassi to head a “national salvation government.”
Violence in Libya escalated in May when rogue general Khalifa Haftar and his loyalist militias launched a military campaign against hardline Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Among his prime targets was Ansar al-Sharia, which the United States blames for the murder of its ambassador to Libya in September 2012.
Some army commanders and local tribes have thrown their weight behind Haftar’s drive. Warplanes, reportedly belonging to the Libyan army, bombarded on Wednesday an Islamist militia’s targets in Benghazi.
“The air force carried out many strikes against the premises and concentrations of Ansar al-Sharia,” an unnamed official in Haftar’s forces told independent news site Al-Wasat.
He added that the strikes backed a ground attack by the army upon the Islamist group’s facilities in the city. No casualties were reported.
The fighting in Tripoli and Benghazi has in recent weeks forced several countries to evacuate their citizens and diplomats from Libya.
The Electricity Ministry said Wednesday its headquarters in Tripoli had been looted after a rocket attack.
Assailants had fired rockets at the building before storming its offices and looting them, the ministry said on its Facebook account.
It did not say when the attack occurred or if there were casualties.
Clashes between rival militias in the capital has prompted a rise in lootings of state institutions and private property.
The unrest has forced at least 12,625 families to flee the city, according to Tripoli’s local council.
Since Gaddafi’s ousting, Libya’s rulers have struggled to re-establish security in the oil-rich country paralysed by political infighting and the proliferation of militias and weapons.
GNA
