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Interior Ministry Reopening in Libya Interior Ministry Reopening in Libya
(about 1 hour later)
The Libyan government has taken back control of its Interior Ministry from an armed group that had besieged the building for a week, an official said Wednesday. The group had ordered staff to leave the ministry on July 2 and its men had remained there for days. They had closed off the compound’s main entry with mounds of sand. One of its members had said they would stay until the authorities broke up the armed force known as the Supreme Security Committee, which says it is backed by the Interior Ministry. The committee is composed of militiamen — former rebel fighters from the 2011 war that ousted Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi — who are often better armed and more powerful than the police. The state news agency said the ministry was calling for workers to return to the office. Armed groups made up of former rebel fighters have grown in power and ambition since Qaddafi’s ouster and the weak central government has struggled to impose its authority over them. The government has said it is drawing up plans to disband militias but has not given details of how the authorities will tackle the bands of fighters. The Libyan government has taken back control of its Interior Ministry from an armed group that besieged the building for a week, an official said Wednesday. The group had ordered staff members to leave the ministry on July 2, and its men had remained there for days. They had closed off the compound’s main entry with mounds of sand. One of its members had said they would stay until the authorities broke up the armed force known as the Supreme Security Committee, which says it is backed by the Interior Ministry. The committee is composed of militiamen — former rebel fighters from the 2011 war that ousted Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi — who are often better armed and more powerful than the police. The state news agency said the ministry was calling for workers to return to the office. Armed groups made up of former rebel fighters have grown in power and ambition since Colonel Qaddafi’s ouster, and the weak central government has struggled to impose its authority over them. The government has said it is drawing up plans to disband militias but has not given details of how the authorities will tackle them.