Libyan parliament bans ex-Gadafy officials from office

Libya’s parliament passed a law yesterday banning anyone who held a senior position during Muammar Gadafy’s 42-year rule from working for the new administration, a move that could force the prime minister to step down.

Prime minister Ali Zeidan was a diplomat before he defected and joined the opposition in 1980, but the wording of the new law has not made it clear whether or not he was senior enough to be barred from the new government.

“I don’t know, the wording is quite unclear,” said a source within the prime minister’s office when asked whether Zeidan would have to step down. It would depend on how the law was implemented, he said.

Tripoli’s skies erupted with gunfire in celebration after the vote and the main square filled with supporters of the legislation.

The wording has been wrangled over for months and yesterday’s vote has been prompted by the actions of heavily armed groups who have taken control of two government ministries and say they will not leave until the legislation is passed.

"It's a very unfair and extreme law, but we need to put national interests first in order to solve the crisis," said Tawfiq Breik, spokesman for the liberal National Forces Alliance bloc.

More than a dozen vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft weapons and machine guns remained parked outside the justice ministry yesterday and the foreign ministry has been similarly encircled for the past week.

One of the men in front of the ministry, who said the group came from different areas close to the capital Tripoli, said they would not leave until the prime minister had been forced from office. “We have been asking them to deal with Gadafy’s friends for a year,” he said.

Diplomats in Tripoli have complained that holding the vote under duress has undermined its legitimacy, while a human rights group called on parliament to reject the latest draft.

"This law is far too vague – potentially barring anyone who ever worked for the authorities during the four decades of Gadafy's rule" said Sarah Leah Whitson, a Human Rights Watch director in the region.
– (Reuters)