Libyan PM's kidnapping deepen fears for country's disintegration

Abduction of Ali Zeidan by own security force points up divisions, with regular army and police units increasingly in opposition to powerful militias

Chris Stephen 

Libya was thrown into turmoil on Thursday after the prime minister, Ali Zeidan, was kidnapped by more than 100 members of his own security force in retaliation for the arrest of an al-Qaida suspect by US special forces in Tripoli.

The day's chaotic events deepened fears that Libya may be on the verge of disintegration, with security forces split between regular forces and many militia formations.

As news of the kidnapping spread, embassies were closed and diplomats put on lockdown amid fears of a reprisal attack on a western target following the arrest on Saturday of Abu Anas al-Liby.

Gunmen of the Revolutionary Operations Room of Libya, a semi-autonomous police brigade, said they had "arrested" Zeidan in his room at Tripoli's luxury Corinthia hotel at 4am.

The brigade said the seizure was a response to statements by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, that Libya approved the capture of al-Liby by Delta Force commandos. "His arrest comes after [Kerry] said the Libyan government was aware of the operation," a spokesman told Reuters.

Retaliation for the American attack had been anticipated, with several Islamist websites accusing Zeidan of being complicit. But many were surprised that the gunmen had been able to penetrate the heavily guarded Corinthia hotel, where Zedian moved following raids on his office by militias earlier this year. The hotel is regarded by foreigners as a safe haven.

Witnesses said more than 150 militiamen staged the raid, arriving before dawn in the car park of the hotel in a fleet of pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns. The gunmen moved quickly to Zeidan's quarters and took him away after a bloodless struggle with his bodyguards. He was then led down through the hotel lobby and driven in a convoy to a base in the east Tripoli district of Suq Juma.

The abduction caused confusion for several hours, with many in the Libyan capital fearing a coup was under way. Police units abruptly vanished from the Corinthia and the prime minster's office, to be replaced by militiamen who told reporters Zeidan was under arrest. Libyan cabinet ministers, meanwhile, gathered for an emergency meeting at the electricity ministry.

Abdel-Moneim al-Hour, an official with the interior ministry's anti-crime committee, said Zeidan had been "arrested" and would be charged with violating state security. The loyalist Zintan militia, one of the strongest armed groups in Libya, responded by mobilising units and threatening to move on the capital to "level" the bases of the militias responsible for the kidnapping.

The United Nations and the British government condemned the abduction. Human Rights Watch said it was "deeply troubled" by Zeidan's detention by "armed forces apparently aligned with the state".

In the early afternoon, however, after a brief exchange of fire between the kidnappers and a mixture of army units and local volunteers at a militia compound, news came of Zeidan's release.

Hashim Bishar, head of the Tripoli supreme security committee, the government's gendarmerie, said his forces helped in the operation. "Our revolutionaries went to the place where he was being detained and demanded he be handed over. He was handed over, now he is safe," he told a Libyan TV station.

Abruptly the militiamen left the Corinthia hotel and police in red and white vehicles returned to deploy in the car park, barring journalists from entering the hotel. "No one is allowed inside," one of Zeidan's bodyguards, dressed in T-shirt, jeans and flip-flops told the Guardian.

Later Zeidan arrived back at his office, guarded by a phalanx of regular army troops in red berets.

"This is part of everyday political games [in Libya]," he said of his kidnapping.

It is also a game with ever wider divisions, with regular army and police units increasingly in opposition to powerful militia forces.

Hassan el-Amin, a former dissident who chaired Libya's congressional human rights commission until he fled to the UK last year after militia death threats, described the kidnappers as "immature".

"There are no revolutionaries now, the people who did this are froukk(immature)," he said. "They have betrayed the martyrs [of the revolution]."

Looking tired but unhurt, Zeidan used his post-kidnap press conference to promise security for foreigners: "I assure foreign diplomatic missions in Libya that they are not targeted," he said.

On Wednesday, the US embassy had warned its citizens to "maintain a high level of vigilance" against possible retaliation for the Delta Force raid. "The embassy is aware of public statements threatening the kidnapping of US citizens in Libya, but has no specific information about these threats," said a statement posted on the embassy website.

US marines were earlier this week deployed to Italy in readiness to reinforce units already guarding the heavily fortified American embassy there.

Libya is already facing its worst economic crisis since the end of the Arab spring two years ago this month, with rebel army units in the east and tribal militias in the west entering the fourth month of a blockade of most oil ports.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/10/libyan-pm-kidnapping-zeidan