By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Tripoli, 18 May 2014:
A group of five officers identifying themselves as the “Leaders of the Libyan Army” have . . .[restrict]announced the suspension the General National Congress (GNC) and that the current government is to remain in office.
In a four-point plan laid out by Colonel Muktar Fernana, a Zintani former head of military intelligence, the “Leaders of the Libyan Army” this evening announced that the Constitutional Assembly would take over the work of the GNC and that Abdullah Al-Thinni’s current government would oversee the formation of the military and security forces.
The statement essentially blocked the premiership of Ahmed Maetig who was elected by the GNC at the beginning of this month. Congress was supposed to vote and accept Maetig’s new government today before the attacks on the GNC building began.
It is not clear if the five were linked to the assault on Congress, undertaken by the Qaaqaa and Sawaq brigades, or to Colonel Khalifa Hafter, whose forces also call themselves the “Libyan National Army “. The two brigades have stated that they are not under Hafter’s orders.
Fernana’s statement concluded that the people of Libya “would never accept to be controlled by a group or organisation which initiates terror and chaos”. [/restrict]
