Libya's New Parliament Opens, Militia Factions Battle on
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Libya's newly elected parliament held its first formal session on Monday as rival armed factions continued to battle for dominance of a country that was a dictatorship for decades before Muammar Gaddafi's fall three years ago.
Lawmakers gathered in a heavily guarded hotel in the eastern city of Tobruk after three weeks of fighting in Tripoli and in Benghazi had made the capital and the country's second city unsafe for the parliament session.
Western nations that have pulled out of the country since the fighting began hope the new assembly might help nudge the warring factions towards a ceasefire and negotiations to end their political standoff.
Elected in June, the House of Representatives replaces the General National Congress (GNC) where, some analysts say, Islamist factions had more influence than in the new one.
"A swift transition from the GNC to the new parliament is vital because the country is in turmoil," Azzedine al-Awami, the former deputy GNC chief, said at start of the first session.
"We hope all Libyans stand together to put our country's best interests first."
But in a sign of division over the legitimacy of the new assembly, in Tripoli, Nouri Abusahmain, an Islamist who was president of the GNC, called for a rival parliamentary session in the capital to make an official handover of power.
It was not immediately clear how much support his call would receive, Reuters reported.
Heavy artillery and rocket fire restarted on Monday across southern Tripoli, where Islamist-leaning Misrata brigades are fighting to oust rival Zintani militias from the international airport they have controlled since 2011.
More than 200 people have been killed in the recent fighting in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi.
