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| Africa North |
| Libya Gunmen Press Siege of Ministries |
| 2013-05-02 |
| [An Nahar] Gunmen pressed their siege of two Libyan ministries on Wednesday, leaving the authorities in a dilemma of whether to risk a bloody confrontation or reinforce the image of a helpless state by negotiating patiently. They have encircled the foreign ministry since Sunday and the justice ministry since Tuesday, demanding the sacking of former officials from the ousted regime of Muammar Qadaffy ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring... The same groups, most of them former rebels who fought to oust Qadaffy in 2011, briefly occupied the finance ministry on Monday. On Sunday, former rebels who had once been responsible for security at the headquarters of Libyan national television, blockaded it although broadcasts were not interrupted. And angry coppers invaded the interior ministry twice, on Monday and Tuesday, to demand higher pay and promotions. On Wednesday, vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers blockaded the foreign and justice ministries as traffic flowed smoothly on the May Day holiday. "The siege of the foreign and justice ministries is continuing and will go on until our demands are completely satisfied," Aymen Mohammed Abudeina, a member of a group committed to ensuring the exclusion of former Qadaffy officials from public life, told Agence La Belle France Presse. The justice ministry has dismissed the idea of using force to break the siege, saying the government preferred to "let wisdom prevail." The government regularly promises firmness against these militias, and a campaign was recently launched to dislodge them from several public and private properties. But the authorities avoid any use of force despite repeated attacks against state institutions by former rebels. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Marilyn Lover of the Hatfields1778 2013-05-02 18:38 |