Western countries and North African states on Monday called for calm in Libya amid a violent power struggle in parts of the country, and reports that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had carried out airstrikes on Islamist-allied militias.
France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States “strongly condemn the escalation of fighting and violence in and around Tripoli, Benghazi, and across Libya,” the U.S. State Department said.
“We believe outside interference in Libya exacerbates current divisions and undermines Libya’s democratic transition,” it said.
The joint statement came amid U.S. reports that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had launched airstrikes on militias supporting Islamist groups.
There had been two strikes in the past week, the New York Times reported, quoting senior U.S. officials.
Neither country had informed the U.S. of the action, the report said, despite being U.S. allies.
On Sunday, Egypt denied an accusation by Libya’s Dawn that Egyptian warplanes were involved in airstrikes that occurred last week against Islamists in Tripoli.
Earlier on Monday, Libya’s neighbours declared their support for Tripoli’s newly-elected parliament, calling for a “peace-building programme” to support the unstable country’s feeble security forces.
Foreign ministers of the other North African nations met in Cairo with their Libyan counterpart and said they would work with the Libyan government to “provide the basis for regional and international efforts” that would enable the authorities to “establish control of all Libyan soil”. As Islamist militias opposed to the new parliament consolidated their control in the capital Tripoli, the foreign ministers said the House of Representatives was the legitimate “expression of the Libyan people’s will.” The ministers called for “an end to the activity of armed groups” and the “violence and terror” that they bring.
Any international steps would have to respect Libya’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the principle of non-interference in its internal affairs, they said.
The closing statement of the ministerial meeting came as the Islamists, who seized Tripoli airport from rival militias on Sunday, doubled down on their opposition to the new assembly.
The Islamist-leaning former interim parliament — whose term of office expired in February — held a session in Tripoli, reportedly at the behest of the triumphant Islamist militias, and elected university professor Omar al-Hassi to head a “national salvation government”. Libyan news site Ajwa.net quoted General National Congress spokesman Omar Humeidan as saying the assembly had ordered a state of emergency and general mobilization.
The coalition of Islamist militias and forces from the western city of Misrata known as Libya’s Dawn meanwhile undertook a campaign of arrests in the capital, al-Wasat reported quoting witnesses.
As the country’s power struggle deepened, the House of Representatives swore in a new Army chief, Colonel Abdel-Razzaq al-Nazuri, and promoted him to general, al-Wasat reported.
It has repeatedly called on the United Nations to intervene in the country, which in recent months has seen its worst violence since longtime dictator Muamer Qadhafi was toppled in an armed revolt in 2011.
But a prominent Islamist leader blamed the House of Representatives for the current crisis, saying that its “dangerous and provocative decisions” had led many Libyans to reject it.
“The new parliament is recognized as having electoral legitimacy, but at the same time its decisions are not recognized by a wide segment of the Libyan people,” Mohammed Sawwan, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Construction and Development Party, told dpa .
The Islamist leader justified the recall of the General National Congress, saying the new parliament had not complied with constitutional requirements as to how it should take office or where it should meet.
As for Libya’s Dawn, Mr. Sawwan said, it came about because “revolutionaries saw that certain armed groups were dominating the state, with the airport and the oil ports and energy sources. ... In light of the government’s silence and incapacity, the revolutionaries acted to recover these key state resources.” Violence in Libya escalated in May when General Khalifa Haftar and his loyalist militias launched a military campaign against hardline Islamist militias in Benghazi.
Among his prime targets was Ansar al-Sharia, which the United States blames for the murder of its Ambassador to Libya in September 2012.
Some Army commanders and local tribes have backed Mr. Haftar’s drive since May. His critics have accused him of seeking power, a charge he has repeatedly denied.
Mr. Haftar’s forces appear to have suffered setbacks in recent weeks, with most of their bases in Benghazi being overrun by the Islamists.
The parliament has been meeting in the smaller eastern city of Tobruk, which has remained stable.
Since Qadhafi’s ousting, Libya’s rulers have struggled to re-establish security with the oil-rich country paralysed by political infighting and the proliferation of militias and weapons.
