Canadian among Libyan hostages

‘ LOCAL OUTLAWS’

Ottawa has confirmed that a Canadian is among three people taken hostage in Libya earlier this week.

In a statement Sunday, Global Affairs spokesman Michael O’Shaughnessy says the Canadian government is “diligently pursuing all appropriate channels to obtain more information about this troubling incident.”

He says the government will not comment further or release any information that may compromise efforts to secure the hostages’ release or endanger the safety of Canadian citizens. The other two people taken hostage are Italians.

According to The Guardian, the president of the Italian Senate’s defense commission, Nicola Latorre, urged “much prudence in this phase, both because we still don’t have the elements to pinpoint the precise matrix of the kidnappers and also to not negatively influence the course of events.”

Earlier in the week, a Libyan official said authorities were investigating the abduction of three foreigners working for a maintenance company near the border with Algeria.

Hassan Osman Eissa from the Ghat municipal council told The Associated Press on Thursday that the abductors are not al- Qaida members, as some reports stated, but rather “a local group of outlaws.”

The three foreigners were held at gunpoint Monday along the highway linking the southwestern cities of Ghat and Ubari.

Eissa said a team of five Italian investigators have arrived in the town where the trio were abducted.

Libya remains riven by rival authorities claiming power, an array of powerful militias and militants with ISIL’s strongest affiliate, but a fragile new government, which emerged from United Nations- brokered talks, is backed by the United States and its allies.

Diplomats from 22 countries and four international organizations said the various factions in the country should stop their infighting and face the terrorist threat in Libya.