By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 28 July 2013:
Commenting on the lack of security in Libya, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, speaking at Wednesday’s press . . .[restrict]conference, said that Libya’s current problems were not external but internal.
Zeidan implied that the source of Libya’s problems were not external enemies from neighbouring states, for example, or even from members of the former regime abroad. He felt the source of Libya’s problems were Libyans within Libya.
“I assure you that in the next three months security will improve. We are on the verge of numerous actions and the creation of an exceptional force”, he added without any further clarification.
“We are rehabilitating our security and intelligence forces”, he explained.
“Qaddafi had presented Libya with an ugly face”, Zeidan added, “and I hope we do not do that again”, he said referring to the acts of violence, bombings and assassinations. “I hope the world does not lose confidence in us as a result of the actions by non-patriotic people.”
Nevertheless, he insisted that in the meanwhile the Libyan state was still weak and was by implication unable to deter this internal source of insecurity.
The state has lost its cadres of middle management due to the Integrity Commission and the Political Isolation Law and is therefore weak, he said.
Libyans want to obtain their rights by use of force, Zeidan added, referring to the widespread of arms as a result of the revolution and the large number of militias.
We cannot distribute our security forces all over government sites across the country, he added, implying that the Libyan security forces were still small in numbers.
With regards to Libyans using arms to obtain their rights, Zeidan stressed that he was talking about a minority and not the silent majority.
Zeidan, as usual, appealed to patriotism, understanding and cooperation from the Libyan public. We will make progress and we can go forward, he stressed. We have achieved quite a few steps and many projects have started, he claimed.
When the government and the people work together, as was the case during the 2011 revolution, Libya will progress, he said. The public should confront these law breakers, he added. [/restrict]