...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
mission in Libya has expressed its concern over "continued abductions, arbitrary arrests, and disappearances of citizens and public figures by various security actors" in the war-ravaged country.
Among those who have gone missing is Faraj Abderrahmane Boumtari, a former finance minister.
On Wednesday, Boumtari "was reportedly detained at Mitiga Airport and taken to an undisclosed location", the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement.
It added that "five members of the High Council of State have been reportedly banned from travelling at the same airport" in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
.
UNSMIL warned that such acts create "a climate of fear, promote tensions between communities and tribes, and have serious implications for the unification of national institutions".
Oil-rich Libya plunged into over a decade of chaos after a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Muammar Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...
in 2011.
Since then, the North African country has been divided, with one administration based in Tripoli and the other in the east where it is backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all. Actually, he is, but slowly....
The U.N. urged the Libyan authorities and security organizations to "release all those arbitrarily detained, ensure independent investigations for all alleged extra-legal detentions and abductions and bring the perpetrators to justice."
News of the Boumtari's arrest by security agents at the airport on Wednesday quickly circulated, but has not yet been confirmed by the authorities.
Members of Boumtari's tribe, the Zouaya from the southeast, threatened Thursday to block oil terminals in the east if he was not released.
But reports on social media on Thursday said that two oilfields in the south, at al-Sharara and al-Fil, had already been blockaded by protesters.