Navy Seals Hand Rogue Tankship Back to Libya
The North Korea-flagged tanker had been loaded at a rebel-held port and evaded a naval blockade before being boarded by US Navy Seals south of Cyprus. Its evasion of a naval blockade prompted the Libyan parliament to sack Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, reports BBC News. Rebels had loaded the Morning Glory with oil at the port of Sidra and it was unclear where it was heading. Citing US Government sources the BBC reports that the ship, cargo and crew were handed over ot Libyan forces in international waters off the coast of Libya.
Ousted Libyan PM Flees Country After Tanker Escapes Rebel-Held Port
Former Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan has fled to Europe after parliament voted him out of office on Tuesday over his failure to stop rebels exporting oil independently in a brazen challenge to the nation's fragile unity. Zeidan was in Malta for two hours late on Tuesday on a short stop before going to "another European country", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told state-owned television TVM. Government sources in Malta said he had left via a private plane bound for Germany, but the German authorities could not confirm he had arrived.
Ousted Libyan PM flees country after tanker escapes rebel-held port
Former Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan has fled to Europe after parliament voted him out of office on Tuesday over his failure to stop rebels exporting oil independently in a brazen challenge to the nation's fragile unity. Zeidan was in Malta for two hours late on Tuesday on a refuelling stop before going to "another European country", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told state-owned television TVM. But no European government had confirmed his arrival by late morning on Wednesday. The standoff over control of oil exports threatens to deepen dangerous regional and tribal faultlines in Libya where rival militias with powerbases in the east and west back competing political factions in the transitional government.
Libya says halts tanker outside rebel port; rebels deny it
Rebels deny losing control of North Korean-flagged tanker; Government says tanker being taken to western port. Oil blockade has slashed vital government revenues. Libya on Monday stopped a North Korean-flagged tanker that had loaded oil from a rebel-held port, after naval forces briefly exchanged fire with the rebels, officials said. But in a sign of the chaos and conflicting information typical for Libya, rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran denied in a televised statement broadcast from a ship that he had lost control of the oil tanker. The LIbyan officials also said the government will assemble forces to "liberate" all occupied ports, raising the stakes over a blockage that has cut off vital oil revenue.
