Abdullah Al Thani, the Libyan prime minister, resigned on live television. Esam Omran Al Fetori / Reuters
Abdullah Al Thani, the Libyan prime minister, resigned on live television. Esam Omran Al Fetori / Reuters
Abdullah Al Thani, the Libyan prime minister, resigned on live television. Esam Omran Al Fetori / Reuters
Abdullah Al Thani, the Libyan prime minister, resigned on live television. Esam Omran Al Fetori / Reuters

Libya PM resigns on live TV talk show after peace talks restart


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TRIPOLI // The prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognised government, Abdullah Al Thani, announced his resignation in a surprise move live on television Tuesday, hours after fraught peace talks between the country’s rival factions restarted.

During the talk show Mr Al Thani faced a barrage of angry questions from citizens who blamed his government for the lack of basic services such as electricity and poor security in areas it controls.

“If my exit is the solution, then I announce it here,” the prime minister said during the talk show, adding that “my resignation will be submitted to the parliament on Sunday”.

The prime minister, who escaped an assassination attempt in May when gunmen opened fire on his car after a parliament meeting, was also hit with accusations of corruption against his government in the television interview.

Libya, which plunged into chaos after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, currently has two rival parliaments vying for power as well several militia groups battling for control of the country’s vast resource wealth.

Nr Al Thani’s elected government has been working out of a small eastern city near the border with Egypt since an Islamist militia alliance captured the capital Tripoli last year.

Earlier Tuesday the two rival factions started a new UN-sponsored round of peace talks in Switzerland’s Geneva aimed at creating a unity government, with representatives of the powerful Tripoli parliament joining the negotiations after boycotting them last month.

United Nations special envoy Bernardino Leon, who is brokering the talks in Geneva, is urging the key camps to reach a political deal in the hope that a unity government could enforce a durable ceasefire.

* Agence France-Presse

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Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species

Camelpox

Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.

Falconpox

Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.

Houbarapox

Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.

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