• Libya's new parliament takes power
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[url]http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba5639e8-1be4-11e4-adc7-00144feabdc0.html[/url] [quote]An overwhelming majority of Libya's new MPs defied Islamists and their militia allies to attend a swearing-in ceremony in the eastern city of Tobruk on Monday, instead of one in the capital on Tuesday. According to officials and reports from the ceremony, 158 of the 188 members of parliament voted to the new Council of Representatives in June 25 elections showed up in the city along Libya's border with Egypt, despite demands by the head of the outgoing parliament, the Islamist-backed Nouri Abusahmayn, to hold the handover ceremony in the capital, Tripoli. "This step reflects the genuine will of the Libyan people to see that the democratic process and its outcomes are respected," the UN said after the ceremony. "It also reflects the people's insistence on building a state based on the rule of law and respect for human rights." The UN, Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Co-operation each sent delegates to the ceremony, giving it the aura of international recognition. A Libyan court ruled that the handover was legal.[/quote] The outgoing Congress tried to organise a handover ceremony but pretty much no one turned up and it just sort of de facto [url=http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/08/04/congress-ends-in-silence/]ceased to exist[/url], in what many are seeing as a fitting end for a parliament that came to be reviled for its disorganisation and ineffectiveness. It remains to be seen whether the new parliament can have any real impact on the clashes rocking the country, though major fighting in Benghazi [url=http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/08/04/eastern-tribal-elders-sets-out-peace-terms-for-benghazi/#axzz39S15dqTQ]appears to have subsided[/url] in recent days.
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