Benghazi and Essam Mohamed in Tripoli — Libya's General National Congress on Sunday (June 16th) postponed the vote on a new president in the wake of another round of Benghazi clashes, Libya Herald reported.
The vote was postponed at the request of some Benghazi congressmen, according to the paper, who remain in the eastern city to deal with the security crisis.
The latest violence erupted in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday in Benghazi's al-Lithi district, not far from the city centre. Libyan Special Forces fought it out with rogue gunmen, leaving at least six soldiers dead and several injured.
An explosion also occurred at the headquarters of the National Oil Corporation.
"Militias occupied the river road and aimed their heavy weapons at the camp of al-Saiqa," Salah Ashaba said. "We were in the Lithi neighbourhood, meaning between the two. They kept shooting until dawn and at this point, the al-Saiqa troops came like the shining sun of Benghazi and burnt the bats of darkness who fled into the old streets of Lithi."
Tarek Mohamed Sahati commented that "it seems unfortunately that Benghazi will be the scene of settling accounts these days, and this time between illegitimate militias and the legitimate National Army."
"To say that Libya is a state is a lie," said Ali Makhlouf, an Arabic language instructor. "The course of events this morning shows clearly that state structures are fragile. The second largest city in Libya is facing great risk in the form of fighting between legitimate forces and rogue ones, and the state is neutral and keeps silent."
Colonel Ali Shikhi, spokesman for the General Staff of the Libyan Army, said authorities had not yet identified who launched the pre-dawn assault.
"There were hundreds of them and they assaulted camps after midnight and in a very strange way. Whoever carries out this kind of activities wants to destabilise security and order and wants to force this city into chaos," the spokesman said.
"We are trying actively to identify them. We have the license plates of the cars they used and some pictures. The investigation will certainly uncover and identify the perpetrators," he said.
As for securing order in Benghazi, Shikhi said, "The plan is designed to enhance security and to secure military sites and important locations in the city of Benghazi and to continue protecting city exits and entrances."
"Orders were issued to reinforce these activities and to implement the plan. We will reinforce military units with weapons and troops and we will try to implement order with all our strength in the city of Benghazi," he noted.
Colonel Mohamed Sherif, head of the Joint Security Task Force in Benghazi, issued a statement saying authorities had apprehended one group but the investigation was still on-going.
Meanwhile Libyan Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadeq al-Ghariani called on people "to exercise responsibility; to exert wisdom, patience and restraint; and to protect their triumphant revolution."
"This is the time, O people of Benghazi, and O people of Libya, when you are most in need of a unified stand. Do not listen to calls for division. Do not listen to calls of regionalisation. Do not listen to sectarianism or tribalism," the mufti added.
He then called on youth "to exert restraint, and not be dragged into reactions or revenge. It is not a time to hold people accountable but a time for reconciliation and forgiveness, for the sake of the homeland. Do not be the cause of a massacre and bear responsibility for all the lives that will be lost."
"At the end, no one will be victor or defeated, as we are all losing," Sheikh al-Ghariani said.
For his part, lawyer, rights activist and former National Transitional Council member Abdul Hafiz Ghoga said that "the state has failed Benghazi. There is no legitimate authority in Benghazi except bloodshed, burning and looting of properties."
He added that the congress lost credibility by adopting the political isolation law at gunpoint and that the government was now losing its credibility as well, unless it does something for the city.
"We want the ministers of defence and interior, and the prime minister, to come and conduct affairs from Benghazi -- for if Benghazi does not settle down, then Libya will not settle down. The state must meet its responsibilities," Ghoga said.
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