Libya’s former Prime Minister kidnapped in Tripoli

The former prime minister of Libya, Ali Zeidan, was kidnapped by gunmen from a hotel in the capital Tripoli on Sunday. This was the second time that Zeidan was kidnapped from a hotel after he was forced out of Tripoli’s Corinthia Hotel at gunpoint in October 2013.

Members of Haytham Tajouri’s Tripoli Revolutionary Brigard (TRB) were alleged to be behind Zeidan’s latest  kidnapping from the Victoria Hotel in Khaled Ben Waled Street, off Omar Mukhtar Street, the Libyan Herald reported. There are unconfirmed reports that the TRB was executing a warrant issued by the attorney general Sadiq Al-Sour. There has as yet been no reaction from the Presidency Council (PC).

Zeidan left for Germany in March 2014 after he was fired by the-then Parliament, the General National Congress (GNC). The former PM returned to Libya on several occasions, during one of which visits he claimed he was still prime minister. He returned again this year and told the media he had visited a number of towns and cities including Tobruk, Beida, Benghazi, Zintan, Sebha and Jufra.

After a visit to Sebha in July, reports filtered through that while on a visit to the town he had called for the division of Libya, claims that he strongly denied. During his abduction in 2013 Zeidan was held for a few hours before being released. The previous abduction was blamed on two GNC members for Zawia, Mustafa Treiki and Mohamed Al-Kilani. In 2014 Kilani was killed in fighting with Warshefana forces.

Kidnappings of politicians and citizens alike continue to plague Libya. In June the United Nations reported numerous cases of kidnappings, arbitrary detention, torture, sexual assault, mass killings and summary executions in all areas of Libya by several groups with and without ‘‘official mandates’’. The assessment came in the UN Libyan Experts Panel final report presented to the Security Council.

The 299-page report said that ‘‘the (UN Libya Experts) Panel continues to receive frequent reports of serious human rights violations. The absence of the rule of law and institutional control over armed groups, some of which continue to operate under official mandates, have led to a deterioration of the human rights situation in Libya’’.

‘‘Detention conditions continue to be inhumane throughout Libya, and formal and informal detention centres are under the control of armed groups.

“Arrests and detentions by armed groups do not respect due process. The Panel received numerous reports of kidnappings and arbitrary detentions used by armed groups for political or material benefit. Politicians, activists, bank employees and journalists are frequent targets,” added the report.

On the political side, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with the United Nations Libya envoy Ghassan Salame on Sunday for discussions on the latest developments in Libya, the foreign ministry said. Salame, the UN's Special Representative in Libya and head of the UN support mission there, met with Shoukry at the start of a two-day visit to Cairo, according to Ahmed Abu Zeid, the Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman. The official visit will include high-level discussions on the situation in Libya, with Salame also due to meet with Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit.

During their meeting on Sunday, Shoukry updated Salame on Egypt's most recent efforts at resolving the Libyan crisis, as well as the challenges that Egypt faces as a result of the breakdown of security in Libya, Abu Zeid said. Salame, meanwhile, informed Shoukry of the results of his field-trips to several Libyan cities, and his contacts with various international and regional players involved in the situation.

"Minister Shoukry asserted that steps should be taken to restore the unity of Libya and activate Libyan national institutions," Abu Zeid said. Shoukry also highlighted the significance of the Sakhirat agreement, which was signed in Morocco in 2015. The agreement mandates a peaceful transition of power in Libya and the establishment of a national unity government.