UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday condemned the abduction of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and said he hoped that reports of his release were true.
“I condemn this abduction in the strongest possible terms,” Ban said in Brunei after the end of an Asian regional summit.
Zeidan was released on Thursday several hours after being seized from a Tripoli hotel by former rebel militiamen, the country’s foreign minister said.
“He has been freed but we have no details so far on the circumstances of his release,” Mohammed Abdelaziz told AFP.
Ban said the “very unfortunate abduction of the prime minister is a clear wake-up call not only for the Libyan people,” but also for other nations experiencing political transformation.
“I sincerely hope that this report coming from Libya that he had been released could be true. It’s not yet confirmed,” Ban said.
Libyan government spokesman Mohamed Kaabar told the state LANA news agency that the premier had been “freed, not released”, without saying how, Graphic online informs.
