By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 11 September 2013:
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan thanked the people of Benghazi and Libya for their “patience” and their . . .[restrict]desire “to stick to legitimacy”.
Speaking at the end of today’s press conference, Zeidan thanked the people of Benghazi for their resistance to all the violence and turmoil and thanked the Libyan people for their “spirit” for “standing by the legitimacy” of the GNC and his government.
Zeidan was speaking at the end of a press conference where he and his Ministers were quizzed on their transparency, effectiveness, inability to deliver promises on security or deliver electricity or water.
At today’s press conference one member of the media asked Zeidan about his failure to live up to his many promises, in view of the lack of water in Tripoli for the last ten days, for example.
Zeidan said that his government was in a transitional period in a “post war” situation. It is not an ordinary period he explained.
“Promises?” he asked rhetorically. “We don’t promise. We say what we do and what we can do”, he replied.
It is worth noting that the Zeidan government has been coming under increased and huge public pressure in recent weeks. There have been numerous calls for its downfall both from the public, some members of the GNC and lately by the Grand Mufti. There was an attempt to organize a general strike last week – which failed miserably.
The more effective campaign against the Zeidan government has been the attacks on power, water and oil installations. Equally there has been a very successful media, or some would say a misinformation, campaign in which numerous accusations against the government have been made – including fraud and the misspending of public funds.
These allegations have corroded the legitimacy of both the government and the GNC to some extent – but it seems despite oil production cuts, electricity cuts and water cuts in Tripoli, there have been no huge public demonstrations yet and calls for a national strike failed to materialize.
The failure of the national strike to materialize may embolden or empower Prime Minister Zeidan to some extent. It may take some pressure off him and certainly off the GNC who no doubt have had to balance the calls for the sacking of Zeidan with their desire for order and continuity. [/restrict]
