Libyan parliament sacks prime minister after rebels export oil

Reuters ^ | 3/11/2014 | Ulf Laessing and Ayman al-Warfalli

[mojito]

TRIPOLI/ES SIDER, Libya, March 11 (Reuters) - Libya's parliament voted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan out of office on Tuesday after a tanker loaded with oil from a rebel-held port escaped the navy, officials said.

Zeidan, a liberal weakened for months by infighting with Islamists, will be temporarily replaced by Defence Minister Abdallah al-Thinni, parliament spokesman Omar Hmeidan told reporters.

The news deepens the turmoil in the North African country, a member of the OPEC oil producer group, where the government has struggled to impose order and rein in militias that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority.

Deputies said they had mounted a no-confidence vote after the tanker managed to load crude at Es Sider port and escaped the navy, which earlier claimed it had seized the ship.

[mojito]

The saga continues. What lil Kim wants, lik Kim gets.

Anyone who wants to load up can just show up, I guess.

[Corporate Democrat]

An update: It looks like the tanker escaped the escort in bad weather, and made off into international waters. But the Libyans caught up and shot at the ship, and are now boarding it with Italian help.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/11/us-libya-oil-idUSBREA2A0R820140311

[mojito]

Thanks for the update!

[grania]

Mygosh, the militants win a proxy war for global and oil interests when they thought they were fighting for a new government which they would control. They don't want to give up the power they fought to achieve.

Is there a lesson to be learned here?