Libyan parliament holds emergency meeting

Libya's newly elected parliament held on Saturday an emergency meeting to discuss the dwindling security situation threatening to tear the country apart.
"The House of Representatives (HoR), elected in May, gathered in an attempt to set a political framework, and guide Libya out of the pit of violence that has raged for weeks in certain parts of the country," said Jalal Al-Shwehdi, a member of the MoR, AFP reported.
He stressed that the first official HoR session was scheduled for August 4.
"We want to speed up the handing over of process, because Libya cannot wait much longer," he noted.
Shwehdi, elected as a representative from Benghazi, said the meeting would discuss how the HoR will face the fighting between rival militias in the country, adding, "We have to legitimize the military institutions in Libya and stop the legitimization of forces who are militia groups."
The HoR has 200 seats for members who were voted in from all around the country. However, because of violence in Derna, a town in eastern Libya under the control of extremists who did not allow locals to vote - a scene replicated in a number of towns in the East and South of the country - only 188 seats were filled.
Sami Zaptia, a Libyan journalist and analyst, said he was optimistic about the HoR. "Libyans made a (more concerted) effort in choosing their candidates compared to the 2011 elections. We hope they are the right people for the job."