Semiautonomous region declared in Libya

BENGHAZI, Libya -- Tribal leaders and militia commanders declared oil-rich eastern Libya a semiautonomous state yesterday, a unilateral move that the interim head of state called a "dangerous" conspiracy by Arab nations to tear the country apart six months after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.

Thousands of representatives of major tribes, militia commanders and politicians made the declaration at a conference in the main eastern city of Benghazi, insisting it was not intended to divide the country. They said they want their region to remain part of a united Libya but needed to do this to stop decades of discrimination against the east.

The conference declared that the eastern state, known as Barqa, would have its own parliament, police force, courts and capital -- Benghazi, the country's second largest city -- to run its own affairs. Foreign policy, the national army and oil resources would be left to the central government in Tripoli in western Libya. Barqa would cover nearly half the country, from the center to the Egyptian border in the east and down to the borders with Chad and Sudan in the south.

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the Tripoli-based interim central government known as the National Transitional Council, warned that the declaration "leads to danger" of eventually breaking up the North African nation of 6 million. But he also said it was to be expected, because the east played a pivotal role in ending Gadhafi's rule.

"Some Arab nations, unfortunately, have supported and encouraged this to happen," he said, without naming any countries. "These nations are funding this kind of unacceptable strife," he added at a news conference in Tripoli. "What happened today is the beginning of a conspiracy against Libya and Libyans."

The east was the cradle of last year's uprising and civil war that ousted Gadhafi. In the early days of the revolt, the entire east came under opposition control and remained that way until Gadhafi fell in August. The eastern rebels set up the National Transitional Council, originally in Benghazi, which then moved to Tripoli and became the central government.