TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – Libya’s parliament voted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan out of office yesterday after rebels humiliated the government by loading crude on a tanker that fled from naval forces, officials said, in a sign of the worsening chaos in the OPEC member state.
Libyan gunboats later chased the tanker along Libya’s eastern Mediterranean coast and opened fire, damaging it, a military spokesman said. Italian naval ships were helping move the tanker to a Libyan government-controlled port, he said. But Italy denied any of its vessels were in the area at the time and the reported firing incident could not be confirmed.
Western powers fear the vast North African state could even break apart with the government struggling to rein in armed militias and tribesmen who helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but want to grab power and oil revenues.
Zeidan, a liberal weakened for months by infighting with Islamists, will be temporarily replaced by Defence Minister Abdallah al-Thinni, who was sworn in by parliament last evening.
Zeidan, who came to power in 2012 after Libya’s first free parliamentary vote following four decades of quirky one-man rule by Gaddafi, had been facing opposition from Islamists and the public blaming him for Libya’s anarchic transition since 2011. Deputies said they had decided to mount a no-confidence vote after the tanker managed to sail away from Es Sider port, one of three major export terminals the government has lost to rebels.
“The government has been weakened for a time and we need a new personality,” said al-Sharif al-Wafi, an independent lawmaker. A new prime minister will be elected by deputies within two weeks, he said.
State prosecutor Abdel-Qader Radwan said later he had banned Zeidan from travelling abroad because he faced an investigation over alleged financial irregularities.
Zeidan told Reuters late on Monday in an interview that navy forces had halted the tanker and were escorting it to a government-controlled port in western Libya.
But rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran mocked Zeidan by going on television hours later while standing on a ship, insisting his forces still controlled the 37,000-tonne tanker.
When Libyans woke up the next morning officials had to admit the North Korea-flagged tanker had escaped at dawn, making it the first sale of crude bypassing the Tripoli government.
Walid al-Tarhouni, spokesman for the national oil protection forces, said navy boats chased the tanker hours later east of Benghazi, further east, and opened fire.
“The ship was damaged and it is not moving,” he said. Italian ships were helping to shift the tanker to a government-run port, he said. But the Italian defence ministry denied any of its vessels had been in the area at the time.
It was not possible to verify the firing incident at sea. Government and rebels have given conflicting accounts of the tanker saga.
It was unclear where the tanker had planned to sail. Government officials say the ship was flagged in North Korea, a flag of convenience to keep the ownership secret.
TRANSITION GETS MORE COMPLICATED
Zeidan’s exit gave joy to his many opponents but it complicates Libya’s transition as there is no obvious successor who can unite the feuding parties in a country with no tradition of political institutions.
