Blowback coming......
http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/10/10/gunman-threatens-to-blow-himself-in-tobruk-up-over-american-kidnapping/#axzz2hJwH3NxN
and......
http://www.juancole.com/2013/10/libyan-minister-abducted.html
and...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304520704579126490757703068.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories
US citizens threatened with attack, kidnap in Libya after terror raid
Islamic militants called for the kidnapping of US citizens in Libya and targeted attacks on American property following a raid by US special forces to seize a suspected al Qaeda leader from his home in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, over the weekend.
Abu Anas al-Libi, a suspect in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, was captured outside his house on Saturday and is now in custody aboard a US Navy ship.
The Libyan government has called on US officials to explain what it called the “kidnapping of a Libyan citizen,” as scattered protests erupted in Benghazi.
Libya Herald.....
Gunman threatens to blow himself in Tobruk up over American kidnapping
By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Man, arrested in Tobruk threatening to kill himself over the kidnapping of
Tripoli, 10 October 2103:
Police arrested a man in Tobruk who had threatened to blow himself up in the town’s main square over the kidnapping last Saturday of alleged former Al-Qaeda member of Nazih Al-Ruqaii (aka Abu Anas Al-Libi) by the Americans.
They were called after the man, named as Abu Shaala from Misrata, had been ejected from the King’s Mosque in the town, screaming that Libyans were cowards for not supporting Ruqaii. Anyone who did not do so, he shouted, was not Muslim and should be attacked. Tobruk too should also be attacked because it had not organised demonstrations against the arrest, he berated worshippers at the mosque. He then announced he was going to blow himself up at the square, although he did not appear to have any explosives.
He did have a gun, however, and when police tried to arrest him in the square he started shooting and managed to briefly run off before being captured.
http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/10/10/libyans-react-to-zeidans-brief-kidnapping/#axzz2hJwH3NxN
Libyans react to Zeidan’s kidnapping
By Houda Mzioudet.
Women demonstrate in Benghazi today against Zeidan’s kidnapping
Tripoli, 10 October 2013:
Although life carried on as normal for many people across the country today, the Libyan public was not insensitive to the news of the kidnapping and then release of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.
Libyans reacted swiftly online as news of Zeidan’s abduction spread through social networks, setting up a Facebook page called: “We oppose the kidnapping of PM Ali Zeidan.” The page attracted 7,000 ‘likes’ in just a few hours. This evening, the number had increased to more than 9,000.
Also online, a young social media activist from Nalut, Khalifa El Beshbesh, firmly denounced the kidnapping. ”This is a result of the chaos in the country and the legitimisation of armed battalions,” he said. “This is a crime.”
At the Tripoli Book Fair, a member of the public who was visiting, a Libyan nurse who named herself simply as Areej said that although it was unclear what had actually happened, the abduction would raise Zeidan’s popularity with many Libyans – countering current feelings of disenchantment with a Prime Minister who, she said, had done little to solve the country’s problems.
“Most Libyans do not want him. They gave him a chance to do something for Libya and he did nothing,” she added. ”Libyans have lost their humanity, and our relations with our Arab neighbours have deteriorated because of the current climate in Libya.”
Once Zeidan was released, the initial wave of relief soon gave way to questions about stability, security and what had really happened. Some called for international help to stabilise the country, suggesting that the day’s events showed that Libya did not have enough expertise to deal with the country’s current situation.
Another book fair visitor, Salah Zuwawi, said that Zeidan’s kidnapping was an illegitimate act which she opposed, despite the inefficiency of his government.
On Twitter, questions, condemnations and updates were interspersed with touches of cynical humour. “Luckily we had some oil drilling equipment sitting around doing nothing, to drill through to rock bottom,” said one tweet. “Libya – the kind of stuff even Hollywood couldn’t make up,” ran another.
and......
Libya
Al Arabiya......
Assembled ministers slam kidnap minutes before Zeidan’s release announced
By Ahmed Elumami. Tripoli, 10 October 2013, 12:23pm: Only minutes before it was first reported that prime minister Ali Zeidan has been released by his abductors, four of…
UK condemns Zeidan abduction
Tripoli, 10 October 2013: Britain condemned the kidnapping, in the early hours of this morning, of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, before his apparent release at around eleven o’clock. The…
BREAKING NEWS: Zeidan “released”
Tripoli, 10 October 2013, 11:18 am: There are unconfirmed reports that prime minister Ali Zeidan has been released by his kidnappers and is on his way to the…
Cabinet meets without Zeidan in emergency session; Abu Sahmain negiotiates PM’s freedom
By Libya Herald Staff. Tripoli, 10 October 2013: Following the kidnapping this morning of the Prime Minister at Tripoli’s Corinthia Hotel, other ministers have been taken to safety…
Last Update: Thursday, 10 October 2013 KSA 14:36 - GMT 11:36
Libya’s abducted PM has been freed by former rebels
Al Arabiya
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been freed by former rebels who seized him from a hotel earlier on Thursday, the state news agency reported.
Zeidan was seized by former rebels and was held at the ministry’s anti-crime department, according to Reuters.
The group, which in principle reports to the defense and interior ministries, said on its Facebook page it had seized Zeidan “on the prosecutor’s orders.”
The premier “was arrested under the Libyan penal code... on the instructions of the public prosecutor,” the group said, according to Agence France-Presse.
The premier “was arrested under the Libyan penal code... on the instructions of the public prosecutor,” the group said, according to Agence France-Presse.
The first picture released by captors show the Libyan prime minister following his kidnap Thursday morning. (Al Arabiya)
Libya’s general-prosecutor’s office, however, denied reports that it issued an order to arrest Zeidan, in comments made to Al Arabiya.
The former rebels claimed that they seized the prime minister because of his government’s role in the U.S. capture of a top al-Qaeda suspect in the Libyan capital on Saturday.
“His arrest comes after the statement by [U.S. Secretary of State] John Kerry about the capture of Abu Anas al-Liby, after he said the Libyan government was aware of the operation,” a spokesman for the group, known as the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries, said, according to Reuters.
“His arrest comes after the statement by [U.S. Secretary of State] John Kerry about the capture of Abu Anas al-Liby, after he said the Libyan government was aware of the operation,” a spokesman for the group, known as the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries, said, according to Reuters.
Earlier on in the day, the Libyan government issued a brief statement on the incident.
“The head of the transitional government, Ali Zeidan, was taken to an unknown destination for unknown reasons by a group” of men believed to be former rebels, the official statement said.
Zeidan was taken on Thursday morning, after gunmen stormed a hotel he was residing in in Tripoli.
Guards at the Corinthia Hotel said gunmen had taken Zeidan from the hotel but there were no shots fired or clashes during the incident.
Al Arabiya television channel has also showed video stills of Zeidan frowning and wearing a grey shirt undone at the collar surrounded by several men in civilian clothes pressing closely around him.
and....
and....
Libyan Prime Minister Abducted by Armed Group
Posted on 10/10/2013 by Juan Cole
Early morning on Thursday, today, the news came of the abduction of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan from a hotel in the capital, Tripoli.
It is not clear which armed group took him captive.
On Monday, armed troops demanding back pay occupied the Prime Minister’s office.
Zeidan broke with Gaddafi in 1980 and helped found a leftist opposition group. He lived in exile in Switzerland as an attorney and human rights activist for decades. He was elected prime minister after the relatively successful parliamentary elections of summer, 2012.
Also on Monday, US special ops forces managed to track down and arrest Abu Anas al-Libi, one of the masterminds of the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Al-Libi was spirited away to a US vessel in the Mediterranean and is now being interrogated. Most Libyans oppose al-Qaeda, but many were upset by this affront to their national sovereighty.
Libyan radicals, a small fringe, pledged to make take revenge on Zeidan, assuming that behind the scenes he must have consulted with Washington on the taking of al-Libi. It is as yet unclear exactly who abducted him.
My twitter feed alleges that Zeidan ordered his bodyguard detail not to open fire on the armed men, and that 2 of his bodyguards were also taken into custody by the militiamen. The bodyguards were reportedly beaten and then released.
Libya had been ruled for 42 years by Muammar Gaddafi through STASI-like ‘revlolutionary committees’ and military units loyal to the president. In the aftermath of the 2011 overthrow of Gaddafi, these forces collapsed and left behind a vacuum of power. The government did not move fast enough to train a new nationalist military. Oddly, it seemed to get little help with training from the US and Western Europe.
Libya has been dominated by the militias thrown up during the revolution of 2011. It has also suffered from a concerted campaign of terrorism by shadowy terrorist groups, especially in the eastern city of Benghazi. This summer, striking oil workers, militiamen and eastern autonomists have cut in half Libya’s annual oil production by taking over the petroleum facilities. These actions may have weakened the government further by bringing into question its ability to pay government workers.
and...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304520704579126490757703068.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories
TRIPOLI—Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan was freed after being kidnapped from the luxury hotel where he resides by armed gunmen before dawn on Thursday.
Militants stormed the Corinthia Hotel in downtown Tripoli at about 4 a.m., hotel staff said, swiftly overwhelming security before forcing the prime minister into a car and ferreting him away to an unknown destination. Many government officials live in the hotel, an imposing tower located near the coast.
Libya's state news agency later said Mr. Zidan had been freed, the Associated Press reported.
The group responsible for the kidnapping was unclear. Saudi-based news channel al Arabiya linked the militants to the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries, a group of former rebels who took part in Libya's 2011 revolution. The channel's website carried a statement from a group spokesman saying, "[Mr. Zidan's] arrest comes after the statement by [U.S. Secretary of State] John Kerry about the capture of Abu Anas al-Libi, after he said the Libyan government was aware of the operation."
Associated Press
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan speaks to the media during a news conference in Rabat, Morocco, on Tuesday.
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The statement referred to a suspected al Qaeda operative, also known as Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, who was captured last weekend by U.S. commandos. Mr. Ruqai was indicted in 2000 for his role in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998.
But another militant group, the Anti-Crime Committee, also claimed responsibility for the raid, claiming Mr. Zidan was being held for harming state security and contributing to corruption, according to the Associated Press.
Libya's government has struggled to assert its authority across the country since the revolution, often at the mercy of militant groups who claim allegiance to the government but act according to their own will. Many of these groups were provided with arms by the West during the revolution, but since former dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011 the government has worked unsuccessfully to disarm them.
The Libyan government approved the U.S. raid that captured Mr. Ruqai, as well as another operation that seized a militant suspected of carrying out the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last year, which killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
Mr. Ruqai was taken aboard a Navy Ship in the Mediterranean Sea to be interrogated, according to U.S. officials. After his capture, Libyan rebel groups called for the kidnapping of American citizens in retaliation.
Mr. Zidan's release followed statements from Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, who said he was watching developments in Libya closely "and with great concern."
"It's important that the situation is clarified as soon as possible. If it is confirmed that Prime Minister Zidan has been abducted, I call for the prime minister's immediate release."
He added, "Stability and the rule of law are critically important."
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