By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 5 January:
Speaking at the end-of-week multi-ministerial press conference on Thursday, Interior Minister Ashour Shuwail revealed that over 5,000 members . . .[restrict]of the Supreme Security Committee (SSC) had joined the official police force in the last 10 days and that the Ministry will need to enroll a total of between 25 to 30,000 personnel.
Referring to the disorderly demonstration by some members of the SSC at the GNC on Tuesday, Shuwail said that “We have seen a group of SSC that demonstrated and that don’t want to join (the official state security organs) and want an independent organization parallel to those of the Ministry of Interior”.
“Those who don’t want to join to join, we hope that Libyan society addresses their demands”. “We will not go backwards”, insisted Shuwail. “We want to create the new state of Libya. There are many brigades who want to either handover their weapons or join the army”, he stressed.
When questioned further by members of the media, the Minister confirmed that the idea of creating a separate organ for the thuwar (revolutionaries) was under consideration and that it will be put forward to the GNC. But he stressed that it would be under the control of the Chiefs of Staff and that such an organization would have no special privileges.
Benghazi
After expressing his sadness at the abduction of the Benghazi head of the CID, Interior Minister Shuwail revealed that a body was discovered on Thursday in Benghazi.
However, he stressed that investigations were still continuing in an effort to identify the identity of the body. He called for calm and praised the police in Benghazi for keeping their calm and not reacting to the abduction.
The Minister then revealed that a new joint committee was created between the army and the SSC in Benghazi to secure the main checkpoints into the city. [/restrict]
