Libya's eastern government investigating disappearance of lawmaker

[May 18, 2024]  (Reuters) - Libya's eastern-based authorities are investigating the disappearance of a member of parliament, the region's interior ministry said, and it did not believe he had been killed.   

The House of Representatives (HoR) member for Benghazi, Ibrahim Aldrasi, is missing after a robbery at his home, the media manager of the ministry said in a statement on Friday evening.

The ministry in the government of Osama Hamad - a rival to the internationally-recognized government in Tripoli - said it had taken "immediate steps to investigate this incident".

"The ministry of interior also strongly denies the news being circulated about his (Aldrasi's) killing," the statement said.

In July 2019, HoR member Siham Sergewa and her husband were abducted from their home in Benghazi. They are both still missing and the U.N. mission to Libya has called for them to be released.

Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, is home to the HoR and Hamad's government, which is allied to the Libyan National Army of military commander Khalifa Haftar.

The HoR was elected in 2014 when Libya divided following a civil war between rival administrations in the east and west.

Libya descended into security chaos after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

(Editing by Mark Potter)

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