Libya's government resigns

The interim government led by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani (pictured) announced late on Thursday that it had "presented its resignation to the elected parliament." For security reasons, the legislature has temporarily based itself in Tobruk, over 1000 kilometers (620 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli.

The announcement came just three days after the rival General National Congress (GNC) - which the new parliament officially replaced after elections in June - named the pro-Islamist figure Omar al-Hassi to form a new government. Islamists, who were not as strong in the new legislature as the former one, reconvened the GNC in Tripoli this week, following an appeal by groups that contest the legitimacy of the new, distant parliament.

"The GNC dismissed Abdullah al-Thani as head of government and gave Omar al-Hassi a week to form a salvation government," GNC spokesman Omar Ahmidan had told journalists in Tripoli on Monday.

'Act of rebellion'

In its resignation statement on Thursday, the internationally recognized administration again denounced the moves to create the alternative Islamist government. Thani's Cabinet also announced hopes that the parliament, which it described as "the only legitimate authority in the country," would form a new government "representing all Libyan people ... and capable of re-establishing security and building a lawful state."

"It's an act of rebellion against the legitimacy of parliament, which is recognized by the international community," the statement read.

Islamists had called on the GNC to reconvene after they accused the new parliament of complicity in air raids by Egyptian and UAE planes last week on militia battling to capture Tripoli's airport from a nationalist faction operating out of Zintan. The Islamist fighters claimed to have seized the airport on Saturday. The long battle for the airport was just one part of a larger cycle of violence in Libya in recent months.

mkg/tj (Reuters, AFP)