Libya now has two state news agencies as disorder deepens
Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:22pm GMT
* Libya divided between rival governments in east and west
* Both sides now running rival state news agencies
* West fears oil-exporting Libya heading for civil war
By Ahmed Elumami
TUNIS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Libya's internationally recognised government said
on Monday it would launch a new state news agency to replace the one seized
by armed factions that have set up a parallel government.
Three years after rebels overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, the major oil-producing
state is slipping towards anarchy. It has had two governments and
parliaments since former insurgents from the western city of Misrata took
over the capital Tripoli in August, naming their own prime minister and
forcing the formally constituted government to move 1,000 km (65 miles) to
the east.
The new Tripoli rulers have appropriated several ministries and state
television, cementing their grip even though the United Nations and Western
powers recognise only Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni's administration,
now based in Bayda.
To regain some semblance of authority, Thinni's government will set up a new
state agency called LANA, the same name as before, in Bayda, its head
Mahmoud al-Ferjani told Reuters by telephone from Bayda.
"LANA will launch a new temporary website to publish local and government
news because LANA's original headquarters are controlled by militias," said
Ferjani.
Last month, the United Nations started a dialogue between the elected House
of Representatives, which also works out of the east, and Misrata members
who have boycotted its sessions.
The talks have not taken in armed factions from Misrata or a rival militia
allied to the western city of Zintan who battled Misrata forces in Tripoli
for more than a month over the summer.
But diplomats hope that since Misrata members from the house are indirectly
linked to a rival parliament in Tripoli, the talks will start a broader
political dialogue, not just about the House of Representatives.
Western powers and Libya's neighbours worry that the North African country
will become a failed state or plunge into civil war as former rebels who
helped oust veteran dictator Gaddafi in 2011 now fight for control and a
share of vast oil reserves.
The disorder in Tripoli and elsewhere in the large North African desert
country has been compounded by a separate conflict in the main eastern city
Benghazi where armed forces commanded by a former general are fighting
Islamist militias.
In a sign of the Misrata-led parallel government tightening its grip on
Tripoli state bodies, its economy minister met with senior staff in his
ministry to debate economic policy, according to the Tripoli-controlled LANA
news website. (Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich)