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| Libya’s New Parliament Meets Amid Militia Rivalries | Libya’s New Parliament Meets Amid Militia Rivalries |
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| CAIRO — Libyan leaders, struggling to keep their country from spinning further out of control, convened a newly elected Parliament for its first session on Monday. | CAIRO — Libyan leaders, struggling to keep their country from spinning further out of control, convened a newly elected Parliament for its first session on Monday. |
| But raging militia battles in Tripoli, the capital, and in Benghazi, the second-largest city, forced them to hold the meeting in Tobruk, a relatively stable port in the east. And a senior Egyptian political figure suggested on Monday that his country might intervene in Libya militarily if calm cannot be restored. | But raging militia battles in Tripoli, the capital, and in Benghazi, the second-largest city, forced them to hold the meeting in Tobruk, a relatively stable port in the east. And a senior Egyptian political figure suggested on Monday that his country might intervene in Libya militarily if calm cannot be restored. |
| The newly elected lawmakers vowed to prevent the collapse of their state. | The newly elected lawmakers vowed to prevent the collapse of their state. |
| “We will prove to the world that Libya is not a failed country,” Abu Bakr Bueira, the lawmaker presiding over the session, declared, according to news reports. | |
| Although the street fighting in Tripoli and Benghazi is driven mainly by local militia rivalries, it is converging into the same national conflict. Islamists and their tribal or regional allies are on one side, fighting what they say is an authoritarian counterrevolution, while anti-Islamist groups with allied tribes and fragments of the former Qaddafi dictatorship’s forces are on the other side, fighting what they say is Islamist domination that has allowed the militia mayhem to spread. | Although the street fighting in Tripoli and Benghazi is driven mainly by local militia rivalries, it is converging into the same national conflict. Islamists and their tribal or regional allies are on one side, fighting what they say is an authoritarian counterrevolution, while anti-Islamist groups with allied tribes and fragments of the former Qaddafi dictatorship’s forces are on the other side, fighting what they say is Islamist domination that has allowed the militia mayhem to spread. |
| Some in the Islamist-allied faction had called for a boycott of the new legislature because it was not meeting in Tripoli. But those calls appeared largely unheeded, as 158 of the 188 elected delegates attended the meeting in Tobruk on Monday, according to a count posted online by the British ambassador, Michael Aron. Parliament has 200 seats in all, but 12 are unfilled because local violence has prevented voting in those districts. | Some in the Islamist-allied faction had called for a boycott of the new legislature because it was not meeting in Tripoli. But those calls appeared largely unheeded, as 158 of the 188 elected delegates attended the meeting in Tobruk on Monday, according to a count posted online by the British ambassador, Michael Aron. Parliament has 200 seats in all, but 12 are unfilled because local violence has prevented voting in those districts. |
| As the trouble in Libya has mounted, officials in Egypt have warned that it posed a growing threat to their own country’s stability. | As the trouble in Libya has mounted, officials in Egypt have warned that it posed a growing threat to their own country’s stability. |
| Their public concern began after Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, now Egypt’s president, ousted the former Islamist-led government in Cairo in July 2013. Then last month, an attack killed at least 21 Egyptian soldiers at a guard post in a desert oasis about 120 miles from the Libyan border, stirring fears of a militant raid into Egypt. | Their public concern began after Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, now Egypt’s president, ousted the former Islamist-led government in Cairo in July 2013. Then last month, an attack killed at least 21 Egyptian soldiers at a guard post in a desert oasis about 120 miles from the Libyan border, stirring fears of a militant raid into Egypt. |
| Over the last week, a sudden spike in violence in Libya has prompted thousands of Egyptians working in Libya to flee the violence, only to be stranded at the Tunisian border. Egyptian state media said Monday that the Egyptian foreign minister had flown to Tunisia to help address the situation and that the government in Cairo had sent tons of food to help feed the refugees. | Over the last week, a sudden spike in violence in Libya has prompted thousands of Egyptians working in Libya to flee the violence, only to be stranded at the Tunisian border. Egyptian state media said Monday that the Egyptian foreign minister had flown to Tunisia to help address the situation and that the government in Cairo had sent tons of food to help feed the refugees. |
| News reports over the last several weeks have sometimes cited unnamed Egyptian security officials saying that Cairo had considered intervention in Libya. But on Monday, Amr Moussa, a senior Egyptian politician close to Mr. Sisi and also a former foreign minister, voiced the idea openly, saying in a statement that “the situation in Libya poses a threat to Egyptian security” and “Egypt may have to exercise the right to self-defense.” | News reports over the last several weeks have sometimes cited unnamed Egyptian security officials saying that Cairo had considered intervention in Libya. But on Monday, Amr Moussa, a senior Egyptian politician close to Mr. Sisi and also a former foreign minister, voiced the idea openly, saying in a statement that “the situation in Libya poses a threat to Egyptian security” and “Egypt may have to exercise the right to self-defense.” |
| Mr. Moussa implicitly likened the Islamist militias that have formed in eastern Libya to the hard-line Islamists who have claimed territory in Syria and Iraq, and he warned that such “sectarian entities” were “a threat to peace, security, and stability in the Arab world, the Middle East and its vicinity” as well as to Egypt. | Mr. Moussa implicitly likened the Islamist militias that have formed in eastern Libya to the hard-line Islamists who have claimed territory in Syria and Iraq, and he warned that such “sectarian entities” were “a threat to peace, security, and stability in the Arab world, the Middle East and its vicinity” as well as to Egypt. |
| The United Nations Support Mission in Libya, for its part, greeted the newly elected Parliament with an expression of hope, calling for an immediate “cease-fire” and a cessation of the bloodshed in Tripoli and Benghazi. | The United Nations Support Mission in Libya, for its part, greeted the newly elected Parliament with an expression of hope, calling for an immediate “cease-fire” and a cessation of the bloodshed in Tripoli and Benghazi. |
| In practical terms, the new legislature, called the Council of Representatives, is scarcely better equipped to end to fighting than previous transitional governments; it lacks a strong national army or police force. But the United Nations mission said in its statement that the convening of the council itself “reflects the genuine will of the Libyan people to see that the democratic process and its outcomes are respected.” It added that the legislative session “reflects the people’s insistence on building a state based on the rule of law and respect for human rights.” | In practical terms, the new legislature, called the Council of Representatives, is scarcely better equipped to end to fighting than previous transitional governments; it lacks a strong national army or police force. But the United Nations mission said in its statement that the convening of the council itself “reflects the genuine will of the Libyan people to see that the democratic process and its outcomes are respected.” It added that the legislative session “reflects the people’s insistence on building a state based on the rule of law and respect for human rights.” |