Libya MPs denounce militia ultimatum as coup threat

Powerful militias made up of former rebels gave the General National Congress, the country’s highest political authority, an evening deadline to quit.

TRIPOLI // Libya’s interim assembly said it was facing an impending “coup” on Tuesday after ex-rebel militias gave it a five-hour deadline to hand over power.

The potential crisis comes exactly three years after the start of the Arab Spring uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi but left Libya with a weak central government that has struggled to impose order on former rebel brigades turned militias.

Powerful militias made up of former rebels from the western town of Zintan gave the General National Congress, the country’s highest political authority, an evening deadline to quit on Tuesday, threatening to kidnap any lawmaker who ignored it.

“The General National Congress strongly denounces this attack against the authorities and categorically rejects the content of this statement, which it deems a coup d’etat,” the assembly’s speaker Nuri Abu Sahmein told MPs.

“Congress has given the necessary instructions to take measures against the authors of this statement,” he said.

“We received assurances from the army and the thuwar (ex-rebels), who promised to defend Congress,” he added, but by Tuesday afternoon no troop movements had been observed in the capital.

Earlier this month, the assembly had stirred widespread criticism by extending its interim mandate, which had originally been due to expire on February 7.

Commanders from the Zintan militias appeared on television Tuesday afternoon to lay out the terms of the deadline.

“We are giving the (General National) Congress, whose mandate has expired, five hours to hand over power,” they said in a televised statement, indicating a deadline of around 1930 GMT.

“Any member of Congress who stays (in their post) will be ... a legitimate target and will be arrested, then judged.”

They said the Muslim Brotherhood and “ideological and extremist groups are the origin of the problems in the country,” which has been hit by chronic instability since the 2011 uprising.

Zintan, in the mainly Berber highlands south-west of Tripoli, was one of the bastions of the Nato-backed uprising that ended the four-decade rule of Kadhafi, who was captured and killed by rebels.

His son and former heir apparent, Seif Al Islam, is being held by rebels in Zintan awaiting trial.

The militias issuing the ultimatum included the Al-Qaaqaa and Al Sawaiq brigades, both nominally loyal to the regular army.

* AFP