There was a flurry of media interest earlier this year over women's participation in the Libyan elections. In May, Najat Kikhia, who teaches statistics at Benghazi University, became the only female member of the city's council and the first woman elected to public office. She secured more votes than any male candidate and, in the process, also won a seat on the National Transitional Council.

Six months later, though, Ms Kikhia has resigned in disillusion, complaining about "obvious and unfair hindrance practised by some local officials".

The exact reasons for her resignation are not very clear, though theLibya.TV website talks of a dispute about plans for developing Benghazi airport.

The Libya Herald notes that Ms Kikhia (pictured here brandishing an assault rifle) is the third person to resign from the local council. The council's first two presidents, Shahat Awami and Juma Sahli, left earlier. The Libya Herald continues:

"As with Awami and Sahli, Kikhia also aimed her fire at the central government in Tripoli and its apparent failure to provide the council with the necessary resources to carry out its work effectively.

"She accused the government of 'negligence and a lack of cooperation', repeating a grievance frequently heard from the Benghazi council that Tripoli had failed to transfer the full amount of pledged budgets."

The Libya Herald has since added a "correction" to its report which says:

"Najat al-Kikhia has subsequently contacted the Libya Herald to clarify that by 'officials' she was not referring to her elected colleagues on the local council, and that by 'unfair hindrance practised by some local officials, perhaps in defence of their interests and positions' she was not alleging corruption."

Separately, there are reports this morning that Faraj al-Deirsy, head of the Benghazi police, was shot dead outside his home last night.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 21 November 2012.