Free Republic

Libya is plunging deeper into political turmoil with the country’s beleaguered government warning foreign shippers against loading crude oil from terminals in the East of the country controlled by federalist militias, and a majority of Libya’s fractious parliamentarians seemingly wanting to dismiss Prime Minister Ali Zeidan but unable to agree on a replacement. Gripped by months of political turmoil analysts fear the country is edging closer to a possible break-up. A defiant Zeidan in a bid to head off a vote of no confidence by the country’s parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), told a news conference on Wednesday a...

Details are sketchy at this late hour, but CNN and others are reporting via Twitter that the Libyan PM has been “kidnapped.” revenge for al Libi raid?

Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia quoted Libyan security sources as saying that Zeidan was seized from a hotel where he was staying in the Libyan capital and taken to an unknown destination.

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan fwho was kidnapped at dawn Thursday by armed gunmen from the Corinthia Bab Africa Hotel in the Libyan capital, Tripoli where he was residing, is said to have been released unharmed, Libyan state television said. On the other hand, an Interior Ministry official has been quoted telling the country’s news agency that he is being held at the Interior Ministry’s anti-crime department. Meanwhile, according to Reuters news agency, the group, which in principle reports to the defence and interior ministries, said on its Facebook page it had seized Zidan “on the prosecutor’s orders.” In the...

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan, making his first official trip to Washington six months after the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, publicly promised Wednesday that his government would identify, capture and put on trial those behind it. Libya and the United States will work together “in order to reach the truth—who are the perpetrators of the crimes that were committed,” Zeidan said during a joint press conference with Secretary of State John Kerry. “They must be put to trial,” he said through an interpreter, citing the demands of “American public opinion” and “our Islamic heritage.” Zeidan added, “We are...

Libya's General National Congress (GNC) elected Ali Zeidan, a long-time opponent of deposed dictator Moamer Kadhafi, as prime minister on Sunday, the assembly's chief said. "Ali Zeidan is elected prime minister and is asked to propose a cabinet within two weeks," Mohammed Megaryef, president of the national assembly, said in remarks broadcast on television. Benefitting from the backing of the liberal coalition in the 200-seat assembly, Zeidan won 93 of the votes cast, trumping the 85 garnered by the only other candidate, local government minister Mohammed al-Hrari. The GNC must approve the government team proposed by Zeidan in order for...