Libyan PM pledges aid to restive Benghazi

Published November 12th, 2013 - 05:43 GMT
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan gives a press conference on November 10, 2013 in Tripoli. Zeidan warned Libyans of the possibility of foreign powers intervening unless the country's current chaos ends in Benghazi. (AFP)
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan gives a press conference on November 10, 2013 in Tripoli. Zeidan warned Libyans of the possibility of foreign powers intervening unless the country's current chaos ends in Benghazi. (AFP)

The Libyan prime minister vowed on Monday to supply more aid to security forces struggling to pacify the eastern city of Benghazi.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan spoke during a brief visit to the region, where a string of deadly attacks were launched by armed groups last week.

In a statement, Zeidan vowed to supply more arms and other resources.

“All requests made by the heads of security units will be met, including the delivery of vehicles, weapons, ammunition and other various equipment... some of which was delivered today,” the premier said.

“There are those who want to sow chaos in the country to prevent the development of the state, to govern Libya in their own way and make it like Somalia,” he added.

The government has been struggling to assemble effective security forces out of the rebel brigades that emerged during the uprising.

Last week, a public prosecutor and five members of the security forces were killed in a series of attacks in the region, according to Agence France-Presse.

Last month Zeidan himself was kidnapped by armed men in Tripoli and held for a few hours before being released.

The head of an interior ministry anti-crime unit later boasted that he was behind the “arrest.”

Several former rebels, from Libya’s 2011 revolution, and other armed groups have refused to join the security forces or lay down their arms, and have carved out their own fiefdoms across the vast and mostly desert country.

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