UN mission in Libya concerned over abduction of government official

By Mahmoud Barakat

ANKARA (AA) – The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) expressed deep concern Tuesday over the abduction of a senior Libyan government official.

UNSMIL "is deeply concerned about the abduction and disappearance of Mr. Rida Faraj Fraitis, Chief of Staff for the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity [GNU]," it said in a statement on its website.

It said unidentified armed men abducted Fraitis with his colleague on Aug. 2, following Fraitis’ visit to the GNU premises in Tripoli.

UNSMIL called on the authorities to investigate the incident and warned that such acts of targeting Libyan officials of the current transition period have "serious implications for the peace and reconciliation process and for the full unification of national institutions."

This year, Libya has witnessed a political breakthrough under UN auspices. On March 16, an elected transitional authority made up of a unity government and a presidential council assumed their duties to lead the country through a transitional phase to parliamentary and presidential elections slated for Dec. 24.

Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar openly disregards the government and leads an armed militia that controls large swathes of the North African country, calling himself the "commander-in-chief of the Libyan Armed Forces" and challenging the Presidential Council's authority.