Prime minister's abduction marks a new low for Libya

Ali Zeidan's kidnapping is only an extreme form of what has become normal in Libya's wild post-Gaddafi political culture

Ian Black, 

Libya's slide into chaos reached a new nadir with the brief but dramatic abduction of prime minister Ali Zeidan. It was an alarming reminder that rival armed militias, a desperately weak central government and a rise in Islamic extremism are a volatile and dangerous mixture.

Conflicting regional and tribal demands have been a regular feature of the political scene since Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow by Nato-backed rebels in August 2011 — one of the most dramatic moments of the Arab spring. Few Libyans want to see the dictator back — many of the country's problems are his own toxic legacy — but a chronic lack of security and a worsening economic climate are casting dark clouds over the future.

Last week's US special forces raid to capture a fugitive Libyan al-Qaida leader, apparently the trigger for the move against Zeidan, was a humiliating reminder both of the impotence of the government and of how the country has become a safe haven for terrorists. No one has yet been charged over the deadly assault on the US consulate in Benghazi in September 2012. The Russian and French embassies in Tripoli have both been attacked this year.

But Zeidan's kidnapping is only an extreme form of what has become depressingly normal in Libya's post-Gaddafi political culture. Power comes not from debate in a bitterly divided parliament or the interim executive, but from the barrel of a gun. Opponents of government policy routinely take over a ministry or surround Congress to force submission to their demands. Protests by state employees began even before Gaddafi was killed by rebels in his home town of Sirte two months after the fall of Tripoli. There is still no new constitution.

On the surface, the capital now feels more normal than it did in the first year after the revolution. New restaurants and coffee shops are opening, and there is even a branch of Debenhams. Fewer armed men and truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns are on the streets. But the gunmen, some with links to elements of the government, are still in their barracks. Efforts to integrate them into a national army and police force are moving painfully slowly. Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi's son, remains in custody in the western town of Zintan, where local fighters refuse to hand him over for trial in Tripoli. It was no coincidence that Zeidan's first comments after his release included an appeal to the thuwwar – revolutionaries – "to assimilate into the state, and play an active role in it through its civilian and military institutions".

Economic issues are compounding the general sense of an open-ended crisis. Libya has Africa's largest oil reserves – the source of enormous potential wealth for a country of just six million people. But oil terminals have been blockaded by militiamen demanding a greater share of the revenues for their own regions. Foreign investment has been sluggish because of insecurity, red tape and corruption.

Britain and other western governments were quick to condemn the prime minister's abduction and express support for the continuing "political transition". In September 2011 David Cameron and the then French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, were hailed as heroes for their role in helping overthrow Gaddafi when they appeared at Tripoli's luxurious Corinthia hotel – the very same place where Zeidan was hustled into the custody of gunmen on a very bad day for the new Libya.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/10/prime-minister-abduction-low-libya