Libya's new parliament calls for unity, militia factions battle on

By Patrick Markey and Aziz El Yaakoubi TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's newly elected parliament called for national unity at its first formal session on Monday, as rival armed factions battled for dominance of a country struggling to hold itself together three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Even as the new House of Representatives met, heavy artillery and rocket fire hit parts of southern and western Tripoli, where Islamist-leaning Misrata brigades are fighting to oust rival Zintani militias from the international airport. Lawmakers had gathered, far from the fighting in the capital, in a heavily guarded hotel in the eastern city of Tobruk, after three weeks of fighting in Tripoli and in Benghazi had made the two main cities unsafe for the parliament session. Western nations that have pulled their diplomats out of the North African country since the fighting began hope the new assembly might nudge the warring factions towards a ceasefire and negotiations to end the political standoff. Elected in June, the House of Representatives replaces the General National Congress (GNC) after a vote which analysts said eroded the political dominance that Islamist factions linked to the Muslim Brotherhood had in the legislature. "A swift transition from the GNC to the new parliament is vital because the country is in turmoil," Azzedine al-Awami, the former deputy GNC chief, said at start of the first session. "We hope all Libyans stand together to put our country's best interests first." Justice Minister Saleh al-Marghani, standing in for the prime minister who was attending a summit in the United States, urged lawmakers to form a unity government. But in a sign of division over the legitimacy of the new assembly, in Tripoli, Nouri Abusahmain, an Islamist who was president of the GNC, called for a rival parliamentary session in the capital to make an official handover of power. It was not immediately clear how much support his call would receive. Some Islamist-leaning members of the new parliament and ex-GNC lawmakers did not attend the Tobruk session. More than 200 people have been killed in the recent fighting in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi. The battle for Tripoli airport is part of a wider political struggle between two loose factions of ex-rebels and their political allies who once fought together against Gaddafi, but whose rivalries exploded over the spoils of post-war Libya. On one side are the Zintan brigades - based in the city some 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Tripoli - with their anti-Islamist Qaaqaa and Al-Sawaiq fighters, including some ex-Gaddafi forces, and political allies who say they are a bulwark against Islamist extremists taking over Libya. Against them are fighters loyal to the western port of Misrata who are allied with the Islamist Justice and Construction party, an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, who say they are fighting to purge ex-Gaddafi elements. OIL OUTPUT DROPS Libya's lifeline oil production has slipped to 450,000 barrels per day from 500,000 bpd a week ago, the National Oil Corporation said on Monday, without giving details why output had fallen. Even the previous figure is well below the 1.4 million bpd Libya produced a year ago before strikes and blockades cut of output and exports from the OPEC state. Britain was closing its embassy operations on Monday, one of the last foreign governments to pull its diplomatic staff, following the evacuation of the United States and the United Nations after the fighting erupted in Tripoli. A Royal Navy ship on Sunday evacuated more than 100 British citizens, Libyan families and some foreign nationals. Some diplomats crossed by road into neighbouring Tunisia. With its national army still in formation, Libya's fragile government has long struggled against the power of the militias, who have skirmished in parts of the capital since 2011. Many of the militia brigades are on the government payroll, approved by competing factions in ministries and the parliament, but are often more loyal to commanders, political allies or regions than to the Libyan state. The General National Congress was stormed numerous times by different militia brigades trying to pressure lawmakers on political decisions or to demand it dissolve. But the fighting over the airport three weeks ago has been the worst since the 2011 war. Most of Tripoli has been calm, with fighting mainly restricted to the de facto frontlines in the south and parts of the west of the city. Fuel prices have soared on the black market as fighting has caused shortages. Complicating Libya's security, in Benghazi an alliance of Islamist fighters and ex-rebels have joined together to battle Libyan armed forces, seizing a special forces military base last week and pushing the army outside of the city. Those Islamists, from the Ansar al-Sharia group, are branded a terrorist organisation by Washington and blamed for the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi in 2012, in which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans died. (Additional reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli in Tobruk, Ahmed Elumami in Benghazi and Heba al-Shibani in Tripoli; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)