‘6 Libya ministers quit over gov’t bias’

Six Libyan ministers have resigned after accusing the interim government of taking sides in the country’s inter-militia clashes, a report says.

Libya’s official News Agency LANA said on Wednesday that the ministers of industry, education, planning, labor, water resources and injured people’s affairs of the interim government headed by Abdullah al-Thinni stepped down.

“The resignations have come against the backdrop of the government’s bias towards one of the disputing sides,” LANA quoted Seliman al-Lateef, the resigned minister of industry, as saying.

“The six ministers tried to remain within a coherent government, but the head of the government took decisions without their knowledge,” Lateef added.

Libya has recently witnessed its worst violence since the fall of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a popular uprising in October 2011.

Rival militias have been engaged in heavy fighting in the capital Tripoli particularly over the control of Libya’s main international airport.

On Saturday, the Fajr Libya militiamen announced that they had captured the airport from Zintan forces that held it since the overthrow of Gaddafi.

The battles in the capital are part of the chaotic situation posing security concerns all over the country.

On August 14, Libya’s newly elected parliament asked the United Nations for a military intervention to protect civilians amid relentless clashes.

The legislative body also voted to dissolve rival militias, giving them an ultimatum to join the military and police by the end of 2014.

However, following the parliament’s vote, thousands of Libyans staged nationwide demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction with the plea for foreign military intervention in the North African state.

Nearly three years after Gaddafi’s fall, Libya is still grappling with rising insecurity as the country has been witnessing numerous clashes between government forces and rival militant groups.

MSM/MAM/MHB