More Political Turmoil For Libya Likely in Coming Days

The Voice of America website is the only English language forum currently pointing out the dynamic that is quite clear in Libya right now: that after the completion of 'Eid al-Adha, Zidan's enemies have return to their efforts to weaken him and oust his government. Some accuse him of being implicated in the bribery scandal of GNC members who wrote personal checks in to  federalist protesters occupying the oil terminals in the East in an attempt to buy them off.  Others accuse him of complicity with the Americans in the Abu Anas al-Libi affair and yet others accuse him of personal corruption. It looks as if Zidan has chosen to secretly negotiate with those behind his kidnapping as he refused to name them prior to the 'Eid.  In short, even the dramatic events of the last two weeks may not have stemmed the cycle of appeasement and blackmail into which Libya has descended.

Now Libyans are bracing for more turmoil after Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has promised to implicate political rivals in his abduction last week, claiming the incident was a coup attempt by his adversaries in parliament.  Zeidan made his threat this week in an interview with Al-Arabiya  saying he would name names,  of those involved in his seven-hour kidnapping, setting the stage for a political showdown after the end of the three-day Eid religious holiday.Analysts say the militias form a parallel state and that if Zeidan is to survive, he needs to curb their power – no small feat when Libya has yet to form a national army or a functioning police force since Gadhafi’s ouster.  Support for Zeidan has waned among ordinary Libyans who have seen no significant improvement since he was elected last October by a narrow margin in the General National Congress. He is Libya’s third prime minister since Gadhafi’s ouster. “People are getting tired,” said Nareen Abbas, an activist. “While we have seen an improvement in what we can buy with the opening of new shops, this has nothing to do with the government. We have not seen any improvement when it comes to security and there has been no progress on deciding how to elect a committee to draft a new constitution. We are stuck.”Read more here.