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| Africa North |
| Libya's Islamist Militias Claim Control of Tripoli |
| 2014-08-25 |
| [VOA News] Libya is engulfed in new political turmoil, with an Islamist militia openly challenging the legitimacy of the country's elected parliament, after its fighters took control of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... 's battered international airport. After seizing the airport in the Libyan capital, the militia from the coastal city of Misrata called Sunday for the old General National Congress to be reinstated. It alleged the parliament elected in June was complicit in mysterious The new parliament, based in Tobruk, 1,600 kilometers east of Tripoli, branded the Misratis as terrorists, along with another group, Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... , which controls 80 percent of the eastern city of Benghazi Parliament called the two groups "a legitimate target" of the national army, which has been unable to control violence in the country since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... The Misratis directly blamed the Cairo denied its involvement, but the UAE had no immediate comment. General National Congress General National Congress official Omar Hmaidan defended the Islamist militias and called on the old assembly to resume its meetings to, in his words, "unite the country." Hmaidan said the new parliament should not meet in an "ivory tower" in the east of the country, but should return to the capital Tripoli. He argued the National Congress is still legal and the new parliament cannot claim to speak for the country. Hmaidan claimed recently the new parliament has "violated the constitution" with a recent call for foreign intervention in Libya. The National Congress' mandate expired last February and many of its members are outside the country. |
| Posted by:Fred |