Libyan militias storm ministries

Rebels forcing power struggle with secularists

TRIPOLI • Gunmen on trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns surrounded Libya’s Justice Ministry Tuesday, cutting off roads and forcing employees out of the building in the latest instance of powerful militiamen showing their muscle to press their demands on how Libya should be run more than a year after the ouster of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

In the past three days, militiamen stormed the headquarters of the Interior Ministry and state-run TV, and

Each wants to push the other aside, and the way to do so is in parliament

besieged the Foreign Ministry.

They are calling for the removal of all Gaddafi-era officials from government posts and the passage of the “isolation law,” which would bar from political life anyone who held any position — even minor — under the old regime.

Analysts and democracy advocates believe militiamen are using the isolation law as a way to get rid of Prime Minister Ali Zidan, who has vowed to restore the authority of the state and disband the armed groups that have become a power unto themselves.

Many militias have an Islamist ideology, while Mr. Zidan is seen as more secular and liberal.

“In essence this is power struggle between liberals and Islamists. This is a very dangerous turn that could force Zidan to step down,” said Saad al-Arial, a political analyst.

“Each wants to push the other aside, and the way to do so is in parliament and in the street.”

Mr. Zidan is backed by the Alliance of National Forces, a bloc that holds the biggest number of seats in parliament and is led by Mahmoud Jibril, a liberal-leaning figure who was the opposition’s prime minister during the civil war that eventually led to Col. Gaddafi’s ouster and death in the fall of 2011.

With the country still trying to write a constitution and chart its path since his death, the alliance has been locked in a power struggle with Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

The isolation law has become a significant battleground in the rivalry.

An initial version of the law presented to the parliament, known as the General National Congress, would have barred an entire ruling class from politics, even figures who had minor posts or left the government decades before the uprising against Col. Gaddafi began in early 2011.

A new version of the bill, posted on the congress’ official Facebook page Monday, included a new article that gives parliament powers to exempt some figures from the law in apparent attempt to prevent removal of key figures.

“This law is made by the Islamists to get rid of Zidan and his group,” said Mr. Arial.

However, Mohammed Sawan, head of the Brotherhood’s Justice & Construction Party, insisted Monday the final version of the law “will not have any exceptions and no one will be exempted.”