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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 8 May 2013:
Representatives of revolutionaries from towns across Libya have come out in support of the government of . . .[restrict]Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and Congress and against the use of force for political purposes. They described the militias who have been besieging the Foreign and Justice Ministries as a group which does not respect or recognise the legitimacy of the state.
The revolutionaries, many of them members of their local councils, met this evening at Tripoli’s Rixos Hotel. They declared that they stood for the legitimacy of the state as represented by the General National Congress elected by the Libyan people in free and fair elections and with the legitimacy of the government which had the confidence of Congress. Force and the use of threats to achieve any goals or for any purposes were not acceptable, they said.
In their statement, they also called on Congress to dismissal Chief of Staff Major-General Yousef Mangoush and promote his assistant to the job until a suitable replacement is found. Yesterday, Congress decided to keep him on for another month after which they would decide who is appointed.
The revolutionaries also asked that all political parties, groupings and advisers together with themselves sit down and start a national dialogue to ensure a safe resolution of the present crisis.
Their intervention indicates a split in the revolutionaries’ ranks. The militiamen who have been besieging the ministries say that they are the revolutionaries and should be referred to as such.
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan announced earlier today that the government had received letters of support from all over Libya.
At the end of their statement, the pro-government revolutionaries said that they would form a national force from all Libya’s towns and cities to deal with the militias if there was no response to their demands.
Meanwhile the Justice minister, Salah Marghani, is reported to have said that if gunmen continued the siege of his ministry he would “move to another building or even another city”. [/restrict]
