Tripoli, 15 April:
Two former Spanish socialist senators have been visiting Libya to prepare for a conference on political transition next month . . .[restrict]in Tripoli.
Both Fernando Sanz Alonso and Anna Clara Miranda de Lege were members of the upper house of Spain’s parliament, the Cortes, immediately after the end of the Franco dictatorship and were involved in the development of the country’s democratic constitution.
They have been invited by the interim Libyan government to next month’s conference which aims to share with Libyans, Spain’s experience of transition from dictatorship to democracy and a constitution.
A number of Spanish academics and political analysts will discuss how their country moved from civil war and dictatorship, to democracy and stability. They hope that the Spansih experience will be of aid to Libya in its transition.
Speaking in Tripoli, Alonso, who heads the Spanish Senate and House of Representatives’ Association, noted that the current situation is Libya was stable and not remotely like what was being reported in the foreign media.
“If we paid attention to what the foreign media brings out, then the situation in Libya would be very serious indeed, but what we have noticed during our visit to Libya is that in reality it is very different from that reported by the foreign media.” Alonso said.
“However, there are some challenges that face the interim government such as weapons being widespread ahead of the elections.”
He urged Libyan institutions and NGOs to attend next month’s conference.
Miranda de Lage made similar observations, viewing that the current situation in Libya as positive. “In my visit to Libya, I have seen a calm atmosphere and a motivation among the people to rebuild Libya. Everyone is willing to contribute to the development of the new Libya”, she said. She added that it was very crucial that everyone got involved in the elections so as to give legitimacy to the new government.
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