Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zaidan was taken from the Corinthia hotel in Tripoli at dawn by a group called Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room, said Hashem Beshr, head of the Supreme Security Committee for Tripoli.
The group took Zaidan based on false information that the public prosecutor had issued an arrest warrant for him, Beshr said. “Zaidan is still with them,” he said by phone from Tripoli.
Oil rose after reports of Zaidan’s seizure. Militia violence has plagued Libya ever since the capture and death of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. It has intensified in recent months with groups refusing to heed government calls to disband, threatening local officials and storming government buildings. A senior aide to Zaidan, Mohammed Ghatus, was kidnapped in March.
“It may have implications for the oil market, it shows how volatile and unsafe Libya is,” Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said by phone today. “Yet again, it elevates the geopolitical risk in the whole region, adding to the one already existing in Egypt and Syria.”
Libya currently produces about 700,000 barrels a day of oil, or less than half the level before the rebellion that toppled Qaddafi. Brent for November settlement rose as much as 72 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $109.78 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was trading at $109.77 a barrel at 10:08 a.m in Dubai.
Zaidan was taken “to an unknown destination for unknown reasons by a group believed to be the Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room and the Crime Combating Committee,” the government said on its Facebook page. The Libyan Cabinet is now holding an emergency meeting, government spokesman Mohamed Kaabar said by telephone.
The Crime Combating Authority, an arm of the Interior ministry, confirmed Zaidan was “arrested” without providing details, according to a statement on the state-run Libya News Agency.
Earlier this week, U.S. forces captured a fugitive in Libya wanted for al-Qaeda bombing plots. U.S. officials say he goes by the name Abu Anas al-Libi and is a veteran al-Qaeda official. Al-Libi was indicted in the Southern District of New York in 2000 for taking part in deadly 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
When asked about the reports of Zaidan’s disappearance, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Brunei today that “we are looking into these reports and we are in close touch with senior U.S. and Libyan officials on the ground.”
The Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room is an alliance of former fighters who took part in the civil war against Qaddafi. The group is affiliated with the Interior Ministry. The government has sought to curb the influence of militia groups by putting their members on the payrolls of the defense and interior ministries.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mariam Sami in Cairo at [email protected]; Dana El Baltaji in Dubai at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
Enlarge image
[h=3]Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zaidan[/h]
Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images
Ali Zaidan, Libya's prime minister.
Ali Zaidan, Libya's prime minister. Photographer: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images
The group took Zaidan based on false information that the public prosecutor had issued an arrest warrant for him, Beshr said. “Zaidan is still with them,” he said by phone from Tripoli.
Oil rose after reports of Zaidan’s seizure. Militia violence has plagued Libya ever since the capture and death of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. It has intensified in recent months with groups refusing to heed government calls to disband, threatening local officials and storming government buildings. A senior aide to Zaidan, Mohammed Ghatus, was kidnapped in March.
“It may have implications for the oil market, it shows how volatile and unsafe Libya is,” Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said by phone today. “Yet again, it elevates the geopolitical risk in the whole region, adding to the one already existing in Egypt and Syria.”
Libya currently produces about 700,000 barrels a day of oil, or less than half the level before the rebellion that toppled Qaddafi. Brent for November settlement rose as much as 72 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $109.78 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was trading at $109.77 a barrel at 10:08 a.m in Dubai.
Zaidan was taken “to an unknown destination for unknown reasons by a group believed to be the Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room and the Crime Combating Committee,” the government said on its Facebook page. The Libyan Cabinet is now holding an emergency meeting, government spokesman Mohamed Kaabar said by telephone.
The Crime Combating Authority, an arm of the Interior ministry, confirmed Zaidan was “arrested” without providing details, according to a statement on the state-run Libya News Agency.
Earlier this week, U.S. forces captured a fugitive in Libya wanted for al-Qaeda bombing plots. U.S. officials say he goes by the name Abu Anas al-Libi and is a veteran al-Qaeda official. Al-Libi was indicted in the Southern District of New York in 2000 for taking part in deadly 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
When asked about the reports of Zaidan’s disappearance, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Brunei today that “we are looking into these reports and we are in close touch with senior U.S. and Libyan officials on the ground.”
The Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room is an alliance of former fighters who took part in the civil war against Qaddafi. The group is affiliated with the Interior Ministry. The government has sought to curb the influence of militia groups by putting their members on the payrolls of the defense and interior ministries.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mariam Sami in Cairo at [email protected]; Dana El Baltaji in Dubai at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
Enlarge image
[h=3]Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zaidan[/h]
Ali Zaidan, Libya's prime minister.
Ali Zaidan, Libya's prime minister. Photographer: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images