Tripoli, March 10: It was reported Friday by sources close to the NTC that it has voted to suspend the membership of Ahmed Zubair Senussi.
On . . .[restrict]Tuesday, at a conference in Benghazi, Ahmed Zubair was elected head of the Cyrenaica Transitional Council which aims to run the region as an autonomous federal province.
The move has created considerable public anger throughout Libya because it was decided unilaterally, without any democratic vote by the Libyan people.
It has also rallied support for the NTC, which has condemned that move. On Friday there were mass protests against the Cyrenaica announcement across the country, with major demonstrations in Benghazi as well as Tripoli.
Both the NTC and the government called for negotiations with the federalists but these were initially rebuffed by Ahmed Zubair. However, it was announced on Saturday that he was now willing to talk to the NTC on his and the federalists’ grievances.
As Qaddafi’s longest prisoner, Ahmed Zubair, was highly respected throughout Libya but he is now perceived to have lost credibility because of his involvement in the Cyrenaica council affair.
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