Libya parliament approves PM's government a week after forces attacked congress to challenge assembly's legitimacy Libya's new prime minister Ahmed Maiteeq won a vote of confidence from parliament on Sunday in defiance of a renegade former army general who has challenged the assembly's legitimacy. Maiteeq, backed by the Muslim Brotherhood which is opposed by anti-Islamist forces in Libya, was initially...
Appointment of former Tony Blair aide, who will try to promote dialogue between rival factions, follows similar US move The UK has followed the US in despatching an official envoy to try to help resolve the crisis in Libya, the scene of escalating fighting and tensions, by promoting dialogue between rival factions. David Cameron's choice is Jonathan Powell, a former career diplomat and senior aide...
Secretary of state to appear before oversight committee Republicans pressure presumed 2016 candidate Clinton Republican efforts to maintain pressure on Hillary Clinton over her response to the killing of the US ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi received another boost on Friday as John Kerry, Clinton's successor at the State Department, agreed to testify at a new hearing. Kerry's decision...
Khalifa Haftar, who has been openly critical of the post-Gaddafi regime, has rallied many influential bodies to his cause Under clear desert skies and a sweltering sun, a team of CIA trainers put the Libyan exile commander through his paces, teaching sabotage and tactics to his small band of fighters. Back then, in the 1980s, they dreamed of the day they could go home and topple Muammar Gaddafi. Khalifa...
The dire consequences of the west's intervention are being felt today in Tripoli and across Africa, from Mali to Nigeria Iraq may have been a blood-drenched disaster and Afghanistan a grinding military and political failure. But Libya was supposed to have been different. Nato's war to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 was hailed as the liberal intervention that worked. The western powers might have...
Aide says negotiations between Pelosi and Speaker Boehner on the operation of the special panel was still under discussion US House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday named the five members of her party who will serve on a special panel investigating the 2012 attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. After weeks of deliberating over whether to participate in...
Militias aligned with him have stormed the parliament but Hiftar has declared that he wants no political power Libya's rebel leader Khalifa Hiftar has played Iago to various Othellos through four decades of the country's stormy history, but his emergence at the head of forces storming parliament has finally cast him as the lead. A career soldier, Hiftar grey-haired, hefty and thought to be 64 supported...
Fears of confrontation between rival groups mount as Tobruk airbase commander aligns himself with Khalifa Hiftar Libya's fragile government faced a spreading armed rebellion on Monday when an air force base in the east of the country joined up with a renegade former general who is pledged to fighting Islamist militants. Fears of a confrontation between rival groups mounted when the commander of the...
Authorities keen to convey 'business as usual' message after forces loyal to renegade general stormed parliament The Libyan capital remained tense on Monday, a day after forces loyal to a renegade general stormed the parliament and said they had suspended the house, challenging the legitimacy of the country's weak government three years after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Libya's leadership condemned...
Heavy gunfire heard outside parliament in Tripoli, and General Khalifa Hiftar says his forces have attacked to arrest Islamists A spokesman for a rogue Libyan general says his forces have attacked the parliament to arrest Islamists there, and have been met with resistance. Mohammed al-Hegazi, a spokesman for General Khalifa Hiftar, made the comments to Libya's Alahrar television station after heavy...
Militia allied to renegade general Khalifa Hiftar hit the building with anti-aircraft guns and rockets, causing MPs to flee Gunmen first stormed then suspended Libya's parliament on Sunday in an anti-government rebellion that is spreading across the country. Members of a militia allied to the renegade general, Khalifa Hiftar, hit the building with anti-aircraft guns and rockets, causing MPs to flee...
Attack leader, a retired general, says operation aims to clear the city of Islamist militias and restore Libya's dignity The heaviest fighting in Libya since the Arab spring revolution broke out in the eastern capital of Benghazi on Friday as forces led by a retired general attacked militias on the ground and with jets. Air strikes pounded militia bases at dawn and 6,000 troops converged on the city,...
Reports that the international criminal court might take over the cases of British soldiers accused of war crimes in Iraq or Afghanistan begs two questions ( Report , 14 May). Why doesn't the ICC address one of the most serious war crimes launching an aggressive war, allegedly committed by more senior figures including politicians? And what about war crimes in the US, including the use of torture...
Egyptian Ahmed Ghanem is detained in Tripoli where he is monitoring trial of two of Muammar Gaddafi's sons A United Nations observer at the trial of two of Muammar Gaddafi's sons in Libya has been detained on suspicion of "black magic". Ahmed Ghanem, one of a three-strong UN team monitoring the case, was detained by security units on suspicion of occult practices. Continue reading... ...
Youth unemployment and the need for more democracy are among the hot topics at three-day European Youth Event It is not everyone's idea of a weekend Euro-break: a conference in the sprawling maze of parliamentary buildings in Strasbourg to debate the virtues of European democracy. Yet they came in their thousands more than 8,000 young people from 28 member states to celebrate the European Union and...
Italian navy says more than 200 migrants saved after boat sank in waters between Libyan coast and Italian island of Lampedusa At least 14 people have died after a boat sank in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy in the latest disaster to hit the relentlessly busy migration route, the Italian navy said. Two commercial ships are reported to have been first at the scene of the shipwreck on Monday,...
At least 36 bodies recovered after boat capsizes east of Tripoli, with more than 50 other passengers still missing Dozens of people died when their boat capsized off Libya last week, adding further tragedy to a migrant season in which more than 100 people are believed to have perished in the Mediterranean in the past two weeks. Libyan officials said 36 migrants died and 42 are missing after a boat...
GOP passed resolution to create special select committee to examine 2012 assault which killed ambassador Chris Stevens Divided House Democrats are weighing whether to participate in a new investigation of the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, or boycott the election-year inquiry of a tragedy they accuse Republicans of politicizing. Party leaders will meet with rank-and-file members Friday to decide...
Officials give contradicting versions of country's parliamentary election outcome after doubts over quorum obtained Businessman Ahmed Maiteeq was sworn in as Libya's prime minister on Sunday after chaotic voting but parliament's deputy speaker hours later declared the vote invalid as a power struggle erupted in the assembly. Continue reading... ...
Republicans accused of political point-scoring by Obama allies Boehner ordered select committee over White House email Allies of President Barack Obama on Sunday sharply criticised the latest Republican inquiry into his response to the deadly 2012 attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, describing it as a bogus scheme to score political points that was fuelled by conservative media. David...