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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 7 May 2013:
Libya’s Defence Minister Mohamed Barghathi has resigned.
He made his announced this morning on TV, giving as . . .[restrict]his reason the sieges of a number of government ministries. He accused the militiamen involved of mounting “an assault on democracy”, saying he could never accept a situation where politics were being dictated by gunmen.
Defence Ministry spokesman Adel Barrasi told the Libya Herald that Bargathi’s resignation was because militiamen were still in control of some ministries despite adopting the Political Isolation Law last Sunday.
Barrasi added that the resignation was not related to the Political Isolation Law, approved by Congress on Sunday
Barghathi’s comment about politics being dictated by gunman is seen as a reference to negotiations between the Prime Minister and the militiamen over possible posts for their leaders in government.
It was reported last night that four other ministers had resigned – Interior Minister Ashour Shuwail, Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdulaziz, Economy Minister Mustafa Abofunas and Justice Minister Salah Marghani.
This was subsequently denied.
No one from the Prime Minister’s office was available for comment. It had earlier issued a denial that any ministers had resigned. [/restrict]
