LIBYAN GENERAL DECLARES PARLIAMENT SUSPENDED ( fighting by the peoples choice ) Libyan Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani, You couldnt agree with me, when you and I were In the Court Room of the International Court of Justice, I was criticizing your government as an repressive regime allowing torture and extra judicial killings of Libyans, worst scenario of human rights violations and you opposed me in front of Judges, Diplomats, Ministers, UN officials, claiming your regime true followers of Rule of Law...here you have the answer, this time by General Khalifa Hifter !!! Forces apparently loyal to a renegade Libyan general said they suspended parliament Sunday after earlier leading a military assault against lawmakers, directly challenging the legitimacy of the countrys weak central government three years after the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Libyas leadership condemned the attack and vowed to carry on. A commander in the military police in Libya read a statement announcing the suspension on behalf of a group led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a one-time rebel commander who said the U.S. backed his efforts to topple Gadhafi in the 1990s. Hours earlier, militia members backed by truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns, mortars and rocket fire attacked parliament, sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives as gunmen ransacked the legislature. Gen. Mokhtar Farnana, speaking on a Libyan television channel on behalf of Hifters group, said it assigned a 60-member constituents assembly to take over for parliament. Farnana said Libyas current government would act on as an emergency Cabinet, without elaborating. Farnana, who is in charge of prisons operated by the military police, said forces loyal to Hifter carried out Sundays attack on parliament. He also said Sundays attack on Libyas parliament was not a coup, but fighting by the peoples choice. We announce to the world that the country cant be a breeding ground or an incubator for terrorism, said Farnana, who wore a military uniform and sat in front of Libyas flag. Early Monday morning, Libyas interim government condemned the attack on parliament and largely ignored the declaration by the generals group. The government condemns the expression of political opinion through the use of armed force, Libyan Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani said in a statement. It calls for an immediate end of the use the military arsenal ... and calls on all sides to resort to dialogue and reconciliation. Militias that backed the countrys interim government manned checkpoints around the capital late Sunday. Hifters forces in Tripoli appeared concentrated around the road to the citys airport and its southern outskirts. The attack on parliament, which al-Marghani said killed two people and wounded more than 50, came after an assault Friday by Hifters forces on Islamist militias in the restive eastern city of Benghazi that authorities said killed 70 people. On Sunday, gunmen targeted the Islamist lawmakers and officials Hifter blames for allowing extremists to hold the country ransom, his spokesman Mohammed al-Hegazi told Libyan television station al-Ahrar. This parliament is what supports these extremist Islamist entities, al-Hegazi said. The aim was to arrest these Islamist bodies who wear the cloak of politics. The fighting spread to the capitals southern edge Sunday night and along the airport highway.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 10:55:35 +0000
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