Libya parliament holds emergency meeting as evacuations continue

Libya is descending into a civil war spiral that is “much worse” than the unrest that toppled its dictator Muammer Qadhafi in 2011, residents fleeing the country said Saturday. The comments came as Libya’s newly elected parliament called an emergency meeting to discuss the dwindling security situation. The House of Representatives, elected in May, called a meeting on Saturday morning in an attempt to set up a new political framework. They were only scheduled to meet in two days’ time.

We have gone through this before, with Qadhafi, but now it’s much worse. Chaos reigns. There is no government, we have no food, no fuel, no water, no electricity for hours on end.

Paraskevi Athineou, a Greek woman evacuated from Libya

Fighting between rival militias in Tripoli has forced the closure of the city’s international airport, while Islamist groups are also battling army special forces in the eastern city of Benghazi. With militia fighting raging in most of the country’s main cities, Saturday’s meeting will be held in Tubruk, 1,300km east of the capital, Tripoli. Tubruk is considered to be one of the few cities where all 188 House of Representative members could meet safely.

Africa LIbya