“The kidnapping of diplomats in Tripoli shows that Libyan government control over the militias who helped topple Gaddafi is weak. The government has repeatedly asked them to disarm and integrate in the political process and they have repeatedly refused,” said one diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity. Four Egyptian diplomats were kidnapped in Tripoli on Saturday, a day after Egypt's administrative attaché was abducted in front of his home by unknown gunmen. Libyan Ambassador in Cairo Mohamed Faiz Gabriel said Saturday that the kidnapping of diplomats seemed to be in retaliation for the arrest of the head of Libyan Revolutionary Chamber, Shaaban Hadeya, aka Abu Obayda Al-Zawi, in Alexandria on Friday. The Libyan General National Congress (GNC) demanded Al-Zawi's immediate release. The Egyptian diplomats were set free on Sunday after Al-Zawi appeared on television to announce his own release by the Egyptian authorities. Their kidnappers had earlier contacted Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television channel to demand Al-Zawi be released within 24 hours. Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Atti attributed the release of the abducted embassy staff to official and “unofficial” mediation. He did not elaborate. On Sunday morning Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi met with the families of the kidnapped diplomats and told them the ministry and all other concerned state bodies were working to secure their safe release. An operation room was set up to follow up on the situation and coordinate communications with the Libyan authorities. On Saturday Fahmi called his Libyan counterpart Mohamed Abdel-Aziz. During the call Abdel-Aziz condemned the abductions and reiterated Libyan commitment to guaranteeing the safety of all Egyptians living in the country. In response to the incident, says Abdel-Atti, the Foreign Ministry withdrew a number of embassy staff from Tripoli and consulate staff from Benghazi. On Saturday Foreign Ministry employees protested in downtown Cairo in solidarity with their kidnapped colleagues. “The presence of a person like Al-Zawi in Egypt at this time raises numerous questions. He is in contact with terrorist groups here and is probably involved in the latest bombings in Cairo,” said the diplomat. While there are rumours Al-Zawi — who arrived in Cairo two weeks ago — was in Egypt for medical treatment speculation is growing over possible links with extremist groups responsible for planning terrorist attacks in Egypt. The Libyan Revolutionary Chamber is thought to have been behind a number of bomb attacks in Libya and, according to news sources, was responsible for the kidnapping of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan last October. Libya has so far failed to integrate the disparate rebel groups that helped topple Gaddafi into some kind of political settlement. In eastern Libya radical Islamists have been accused of launching dozens of attacks on security forces and Western interests in and around Benghazi and the Libyan-Egyptian border has long been a crossing point for smuggled weapons and the movement of extremists from Libya to Egypt. The kidnappings have caused concern among many Western diplomats in Libya. Before he was evacuated to Cairo several calls were made to Mohamed Abu Bakr, the Egyptian ambassador to Libya, to voice concern over the involvement of foreign parties in the internal conflict in Libya. Foreigners have been targeted several times in recent weeks. Two Italians were seized last week in eastern Libya and a South Korean trade representative was released by security forces on Wednesday, three days after he was abducted in Tripoli. It is not the first time that an Egyptian foreign mission has been attacked by terrorist groups. In 1995 the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad was bombed by Al-Qaeda leaving 15 dead and 60 injured. Ten years later Ehab Al-Sherif, Egypt's ambassador to Iraq, was kidnapped and brutally murdered by an Al-Qaeda affiliated group. In 2010 the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad was the target of a bomb attack that left 17 dead and more than 200 injured. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack.
