Libya's prime minister has been ousted by parliament after a tanker laden with crude oil from a rebel-held terminal broke through a naval blockade and escaped to sea, underscoring the weakness of the central government.
The no-confidence motion was approved by 124 of the 194 members of the General National Congress, four more than the majority required, MPs said on Tuesday.
Ousted prime minister Ali Zeidan was temporarily replaced by Defence Minister Abdullah al-Thani, who was sworn in as caretaker premier until a permanent replacement can be chosen within two weeks, a GNC statement said.
Zeidan, an independent who had been supported by liberals, proved incapable of bringing to heel former rebel militia that carved out their own fiefdoms after the 2011 uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade rule.
The beleaguered prime minister was even briefly abducted by former rebel militia in the heart of the capital last October.
Earlier on Tuesday, in a final humiliation for Zeidan, a North Korean-flagged tanker that had taken on a cargo of oil from a rebel-held terminal in the east slipped passed naval vessels deployed to intercept it and escaped to sea.
The Morning Glory, which docked in Al-Sidra Saturday and is reported to have loaded at least 234,000 barrels of crude, is the first vessel to have done so from a rebel-held terminal since the challenge against the Tripoli authorities erupted last July.
Zeidan's government had threatened armed action, even an air strike, to prevent the tanker getting away with the oil bought from the rebels' self-declared autonomous government without the authorisation of state-owned Libyan National Oil Corporation.
But bad weather prevented the small naval vessels - mostly fast patrol boats - from following the huge ship out into the Mediterranean from Al-Sidra.
Warships had deployed to block the Morning Glory after Culture Minister Amin al-Habib warned on Sunday that the tanker would be "turned into a pile of metal" if it tried to leave port.
The government has said a task force composed of both regular troops and ex-rebel militia is being formed to bring the rebel ports back under central government control within a week.
