Libya’s powerful general lashes at UN envoy for ‘meddling’

CAIRO – Libya’s powerful general, who answers to the parliament based in the country’s east, has criticized the U.N. envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, saying the top diplomat is “meddling” in Libyan affairs.

The rebuke came in an interview with Egypt’s state-run daily Al-Ahram, punished Monday.

Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter says “Kobler is meddling in very sensitive issues” after he allegedly sought to set up a meeting of the two “to discuss the makeup of the Libyan army.”

Hifter says the Libyan capital of Tripoli, where the U.N.-brokered government is seated, has been “hijacked” by armed gangs. The east-based parliament doesn’t recognize the U.N.-backed government.

Hifter’s forces seized control of Libya’s three key oil terminals in the east, after routing a militia commander and forces loyal to U.N.-brokered government from the facilities.