By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 16 April 2014:
There has been news of the Jordanian Ambassador, Fawwaz Al-Eitan, who . . .[restrict]was seized yesterday morning in central Tripoli by masked gunmen. However, the Interior Ministry continues to follow up a number of leads.
The cabinet at its meeting today condemned the abduction and promised to take rapid and practical measure to protect ambassadors and members of diplomatic missions in Libya.
The kidnapping has shaken the already shrinking diplomatic community, probably more so than at any time since the death of US Ambassador Chris Stephens in Benghazi in September 2012. However, none wish to say so publicly.
“We are all targets now,” said one ambassador today asking not to be identified. He was cancelling invitations to attend events around the capital and elsewhere as a result, he said.
“I never felt uncomfortable here until yesterday”, said another, who likewise did not want to be named. “We don’t know who is behind this attack or who is going to be next.”
Many foreign governments, he believed, would now “consider withdrawing diplomats from Libya”.
The claim reported yesterday by a member of the investigation into the kidnapping, Essam Baitelmel, that the kidnappers had demanded Libyan militant Islamist Mohamed Dersi, jailed in Jordan for a planned bomb attack, be released in exchange for El-Eitan is seen as particularly worrying, since it could mean that Al-Qaeda was operating in the Libyan capital.
The Jordanians have claimed that Dersi is a member of Al-Qaeda.
The Jordanian Prime Minisister, Abdullah Ensour, who yesterday spoke by phone to Abdullah Al-Thinni, has said that his government would take “all necessary measures” to protect the ambassador’s life and release him. However, Jordan appears to rule out any release for Dersi on the basis that to do so would set a precedent in the fight against Al-Qaeda. [/restrict]
