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TRIPOLI. – Libyan authorities vowed yesterday to pursue a democratic transition in the face of mounting lawlessness after two MPs were shot when protesters stormed the country’s transitional parliament.
On Sunday, the two General National Congress (GNC) members were shot and wounded as armed protesters stormed their building in Tripoli. In a separate incident, a French engineer was killed in the restive eastern city of Benghazi.
“I assure you we are committed to the path of the February 17 revolution and to pursue the democratic process,” GNC president Nuri Abu Sahmein said in a televised address, referring to the uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi’s four-decade rule.
Abu Sahmein said the lawmakers’ wounds were not life-threatening but condemned what he termed a “flagrant aggression on the seat of legitimate sovereignty”.
He urged former rebel fighters who ousted Gaddafi to protect the capital and state institutions.
Yesterday, ex-rebels equipped with pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns were posted around the GNC building, where at least five burnt-out cars testified to the previous day’s violence.
Abu Sahmein said the GNC was examining a roadmap for the handover of power “as quickly as possible” to an elected body. – AFP.
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