Regional group declares self-government for east Libya

Cyrenaica congress leader Ahmed Zubair al-Senussi (R) arrives for the second Congress of the People of Cyrenaica in Beida, 200 km (124 miles) east of Benghazi, April 17, 2012.

Πηγή: Reuters

By Ghaith Shennib
Jun 2 2013

The leader of a political group in Libya's oil-rich Cyrenaica province declared it a self-governing region in a speech on Saturday, evidence of growing pressure for a planned new constitution to adopt a federal structure.

Ahmed Zubair al-Senussi, head of the Cyrenaica Council and a distant relative of Libya's last king, has no formal authority under current transitional arrangements and it is not clear how he would be able to implement the declaration on the ground.

His council, however, is representative of factions in the east that have become more unified by concerns over how to establish the rule of law in a country awash with weapons and rival militias two years after the end of the war to depose Muammar Gaddafi.

The national assembly in Tripoli said it would form a committee to examine the declaration by Senussi, which included promises to form a new parliament and security force for the region.

"As of today, Cyrenaica is a federal region within the framework of the Libyan state," Senussi said in a speech to a rally in the eastern town of al-Marj. "Cyrenaica will activate the 1951 constitution and establish a parliament."

Calls for federal rule have become more vocal since Gaddafi's overthrow in 2011, fuelled by familiar complaints in the east of the country that it has not been given a fair share of Libya's wealth and the weakness of the central government.

But Senussi gave no timeline for implementing his proposals and called for the Tripoli government, which is leading the nation as it prepares to write a new constitution, to transfer money to the region.

For about 10 years after it became an independent state in 1951, Libya was run along federal lines, with power devolved to Cyrenaica, the southern province of Fezzan, and Tripolitania in the west of the country.

Libya centralized its government in the last years of the rule of King Idris, and Gaddafi accelerated the process when he came to power in a military coup in 1969.

The eastern city of Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 uprising but residents now complain of Tripoli's inability to provide security by disarming militias or moving towards writing a constitution.

Libya east-west highway cut by armed militia

The road to Ras Lanuf in Libya.

Πηγή: The Guardian
By Chris Stephen
June 27 2012

Armed units say they will stay in place until Cyrenaica, Libya's oil-rich eastern province, is given more seats in new parliament.

The main highway linking east and west Libya has been cut by armed militia demanding changes to the rules of the country's national elections due on 7 July.

Armed units backed by vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft guns have cut the highway at Red Wadi, 40 miles from Libya's main oil refinery at Ras Lanuf.

The militia say they will stay in place until Cyrenaica, Libya's oil-rich eastern province, is given a greater distribution of seats in the new national parliament, the national congress.

The region's self-declared Barqa Council – the Arab name for Cyrenaica – is calling for a boycott of the national elections unless seats are shared equally between Libya's three provinces.

The roadblock, which government forces have not opposed, has further raised concerns over doubts over whether Libya can hold free and fair elections on schedule as violence continues in many parts of the country.

Fresh fighting has broken out in the southern town of Kufra, where battles between the indigenous Tibu people and Arab tribes earlier this year left 70 dead.

Tense ceasefires continue around the towns of Zuara and Zintan, where battles cost more than 100 lives earlier this month.

Benghazi has also been the scene of attacks blamed on jihadists, including a rocket attack on the British ambassador's convoy earlier this month.

And the explosion of an improvised explosive device outside the Tunisian consulate in Tripoli on Tuesday night has put many international organisations on edge. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has seen two of its four offices in Libya bombed this month and is reviewing security.

"There are some security incidents that affected several targets," said ICRC head of mission in Libya Georges Comminos. "We have to take certain precautions."

Opposition to Libya's ruling National Transitional Council, which is seen by critics as both secretive and dictatorial, is growing in the main former rebel towns of Benghazi, Misrata and Zintan, each of which has established its own ruling council.

"At the moment, we're protesting over our demands for an equal number of seats in the National General Conference," Brigadier General Hamid Hassi, in charge of the highway roadblock, told the English Language Libya Herald newspaper. "Libya is currently divided and the best proof of that is that Misrata has now, in effect, a separate government, and Zintan likewise."