Deal with former rebels ends siege

TRIPOLI. Armed groups have ended a nearly two-week siege of Libya’s foreign and justice ministries in the capital after reaching a deal with the government, the Libyan justice minister has said.

Monday, May 13, 2013

TRIPOLI. Armed groups have ended a nearly two-week siege of Libya’s foreign and justice ministries in the capital after reaching a deal with the government, the Libyan justice minister has said. "Those who were at the two ministries have handed over the two ministries to a committee formed by the government and the General National Congress and have now departed,” Salah al-Marghani, justice minister, said on Saturday.The armed groups surrounded the ministries in Tripoli late last month to press parliament to pass a law banning anyone who held a senior position under the late leader Muammar Gaddafi from holding office in the new administration.The move came after hundreds of people rallied on Friday to denounce the use of violence by militias. The activists accuse the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to seize power by force.Prime Minister Ali Zeidan had announced on Wednesday there would be a cabinet reshuffle "in the coming days,” against the backdrop of the country’s latest political crisis, sparked by the besieging of the two ministries."There will no doubt be a ministerial reshuffle in the coming days,” he told reporters.