Benghazi, 3 September:
Benghazi Local Council has elected a new president, three weeks after the previous incumbent resigned citing “unworkable” conditions.
Juma Abdul . . .[restrict]Salam Sahli takes on the role from Faraj Abbar, the council’s vice president, who temporarily held the post following the resignation of Shahat Awami on 15 August.
Sahli was elected to the local council on 19 May after taking the second largest number of votes in District 7, Al-Uruba and Al-Mukhtar. Born in 1966, Sahli is a civil engineer by training.
Sahli’s predecessor Awami had taken on the presidency of the council on 1 June, but his tenure was plagued by difficulties, which council officials claim were the result of a lack of funds. Frustrations with the council have frequently boiled over in the eastern city, and there have been reports of several threats against Awami’s life.
At the time of his resignation, the council’s spokesman, Khaled Al-Jazwee, told the Libya Herald that the council had just two million dinars in its account, in spite of a nominal allocation of 68 million dinars by the government in Tripoli for the first six months of this year.
Benghazi has not been alone in its difficulties, however, with a lack of funds reportedly a perennial problem across many local councils. Tripoli Local Council is now on its third leader so far this year, Sadat Elbadri, whilst Misrata has also had a replacement. [/restrict]
