Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni and a group of ministers were prevented from flying out of Mitiga Air Base yesterday.

According to the official website of the Prime Minister, Thinni was heading to Tobruk for meetings when they were stopped by the militia controlling the air base.

Mitiga was supposedly “handed back” to the government in a ceremony a fortnight ago, the third time in two years.  Even at the time, however, the “handover” was seen as a ruse to make the public believe that the air base was now under state control.

A number of flights are nonetheless going from the airbase, including a number of international ones.