Brussels, 11/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 10 October, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said she was relieved that Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan had been released a few hours after his abduction in the morning by a group of former rebels asserting that they had acted on the orders of the general prosecutor. “Such actions put the hard won gains of the revolution at risk”, Ashton said in a press release. “They make it all the more urgent for the Libyan people to stand united and work towards national reconciliation and the establishment of the rule of law”, she added.
Ashton's spokesperson stated that it is evident that abduction is not the way to settle political differences. The use of violence or abduction should never be used as part of the political process, the spokesperson added.
In a press release, Ashton said that this event reinforces the EU's determination to support and work with the electoral government of Libya and the Libyan people on “strengthening institutions so that democratic principles and the rule of law can be upheld”.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that the UK would help Libya overcome its security problems, while France's President François Hollande called on the international community to take action to help the Libyan authorities re-establish security, underlining that France has always made known its readiness to cooperate on security. (CG/transl.fl)