Ousted Libyan PM flees country after tanker escapes rebel-held port

Reuters ^ | 3/12/2014 | Ulf Laessing

[mojito]

Former Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan has fled to Europe after parliament voted him out of office on Tuesday over his failure to stop rebels exporting oil independently in a brazen challenge to the nation's fragile unity.

Zeidan was in Malta for two hours late on Tuesday on a short stop before going to "another European country", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told state-owned television TVM.

Government sources in Malta said he had left via a private plane bound for Germany, but the German authorities could not confirm he had arrived.

The standoff over control of oil exports runs across dangerous regional and tribal faultlines in Libya where rival militias with powerbases in the east and west back competing political factions in the transitional government.

[....]

Parliament acted after rebels holding three key ports in the east disobeyed government orders and loaded a North Korean-flagged tanker with oil at Es Sider port as part of their drive for a federal state in their eastern region.

Although Zeidan had threatened to use force to stop the vessel leaving, the tanker managed to reach international waters and flee, undermining the prime minister's credibility.

[....]

There was no still word on the whereabouts of the tanker which sparked the crisis that led to Zeidan's ouster.

A military spokesman said on Tuesday that Libyan gunboats chased the tanker along Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast and opened fire, damaging it, and said Italian naval ships were helping move the tanker to a Libyan government-controlled port.

But Italy denied any of its vessels were in the area at the time and the reported incident of a naval ship opening fire could not be confirmed. The navy and defence ministry have not been available for comment since.

[mojito]

Libya: The Administration's one great foreign policy success.

Anyway, what difference does it make?

[DoodleDawg]

...after rebels holding three key ports in the east disobeyed government orders and loaded a North Korean-flagged tanker with oil at Es Sider port as part of their drive for a federal state in their eastern region.

Well considering it was a North Korean ship then the rebels probably got paid for their oil with counterfit currency so maybe it serves them right?

[HKMk23]

Huh.

Alongside Anitmatter, and Dark Matter, I suppose this Administration should claim Doesn’t Matter as their dubious contribution to Physics.

[blueunicorn6]

Dear Libyan Citizens: Welcome to the world of The American Democrat Party.

[bgill]

There’s a reason why in days of yore, we had editors. First it was SUVs running themselves off the road and now we have tanks plotting sucessful escapes.