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By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 20 December:
The GNC head Mohammed Magarief addressed the Platform for Peace conference in Tripoli today.
The conference under the . . .[restrict]banner “Libya Platform for Peace: National Reconciliation, Security and Constitution,” was organized Karama, UN Women and the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace.
On the issue of peace and reconciliation, Magarief said that ‘’if we don’t feel peace inside us, society itself does not and will not feel peace’’. Regarding the process of debate, Magarief felt that ‘’debate was key to raising the awareness of the Libyan people”.
”The Holy Koran talks about the exchange of thoughts and opinions, visions, concepts etc. This is needed and we cannot do without it because god created variety in everyone and everything. Debate is the heart of democracy. There can be no democracy without real debate’’, he stressed.
Regarding the drafting of the constitution and the choosing of the drafting ‘Committee of 60’’, Magarief admitted that there was a ‘’difference of opinion regarding the electing or appointing of the Committee. We have discussed this at the GNC on more than one occasion. Article 30 says it should be elected. But the GNC has the right and authority reform the Temporary Constitutional Declaration’’.
‘’Some within the GNC’’, Magarief continued, ‘’feel that it is a technical committee and that there is no way an election could achieve a desired committee of 60. This is a viewpoint. We tried to encourage a national debate in an attempt and through many means, including NGOs, to get feedback from the public’’.
‘’Whichever way the debate goes, we hope the process proceds with legitimacy until we reach a final result’’, Magarief concluded.
The three day conference was attended by numerous NGOs, political activists, members of the GNC, the NTC and representatives from the East, West and South of Libya.
“Creating a platform for people from different backgrounds to build consensus is what we want to achieve here,” said Zahra Langhi, co-founder of Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace.
Fellow attendee, Benghazi resident, Hana el Gallal who lead many of the revolutionaries in the fight to overthrow Gadaffi said, “We saw inequality with Gadaffi. Now we are fighting for our own rights. It’s a long path and we will do it slowly. Freedom is a fight. It’s not given to us.”
Karama, the Arabic word for dignity, is an organization based in Cairo, Egypt which envisions a democratic Arab society free of all forms of violence and discrimination and violence, based on equal rights and citizenship.
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