Escalation of Libyan crisis: What follows kidnapping of two ministers from Bashagha government?
The Libyan crisis is further
complicated by the lack of clarity about the future of the presidential and
legislative elections that were originally scheduled to be held on December 24,
2021, and postponed for the second time hours before the transfer of the
government to new Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha, who was appointed by the
parliament on February 10, followed by the announcement of the kidnapping of
two ministers from the Bashagha government on Thursday, March 3.
Two ministers
kidnapped
On March 3, Libyan media announced
that two ministers of the Bashagha government had been kidnapped near the city
of Misrata, one of the cities where armed groups are active.
Sources close to the government said
that the two ministers are Foreign Minister Khaled Kaddour and Culture Minister
Salha Bashir al-Drouqi, adding that the operation took place near Misrata while
they were on their way to Tobruk to take the constitutional oath before the
Libyan House of Representatives.
According to Reuters, sources said
that the accusing fingers point to what is known as the joint security force
close to the former government of Abdul Hamid Dabaiba that was dismissed by the
parliament, which indicates the complexity of the internal scene between the
current and former governments.
Dabaiba
assassination attempt
Weeks ago, former Prime Minister
Dabaiba confirmed his adherence to his position, but the parliament had a
different opinion and announced his dismissal and the inauguration of Bashagha
in his place after the end of his term. Hours before the parliament session,
people close to Dabaiba announced that he had been subjected to an
assassination attempt.
Imran al-Moneth, Dabaiba's
brother-in-law, published pictures of his car, which showed signs of being shot
at, after news that Dabaiba had been subjected to an assassination attempt in
Tripoli at dawn on Thursday, February 10.
A source close to Dabaiba said that
the prime minister was returning home when he was shot from another car before
fleeing and that the incident was referred to the Public Prosecutor for
investigation.
At the time, the sources indicated
that armed and armored cars roamed the center of Tripoli and the Andalus
neighborhood after Dabaiba's car came under fire. The perpetrators of the
assassination attempt were not arrested or identified, as they fled.
Similar events
Political assassinations and
kidnappings are not a new thing in Libya in recent years, but their danger
comes from the coincidence of their occurrence and their frequent recurrence in
light of the current political uncertainty that dominates the scene, which
threatens the re-existence of two governments dividing the country between
Bashagha and Dabaiba.
The Libyan territories witnessed
frequent kidnappings, including on January 15, 2015, when gunmen kidnapped
Hassan Al-Saghir, then-Deputy Foreign Minister, from a hotel room in the city
of Al-Bayda in eastern Libya.
A Foreign Ministry official said
that the gunmen who carried out the pre-dawn abduction told hotel employees
that they were security men and that they took Saghir to an unknown
destination.
In January 2022, a militia in
western Libya kidnapped Ali Al-Zanati, then- Minister of Health, from Maitika
International Airport in Tripoli. Sources in the Minister of Health's office
revealed that the RADA Special Deterrence Force militia had kidnapped Zanati
while he was returning from the capital to Benghazi.
The Special Deterrence Force is the
strongest and most ferocious in Tripoli, led by Abdel Raouf Kara. It controls
the Maitika air base and its airport, as well as runs a prison that houses
about two thousand terrorists from ISIS, al-Qaeda and other entities.
