By Ahmed Ellumami
Tripoli, 9 October 2013:
A critically-ill four year old from Bani Walid appears to have died because Tarhouna militiamen refused . . .[restrict]to let the ambulance taking her to a Tripoli hospital pass through a roadblock.
“The girl was in a very critical condition,” acting head of Bani Walid council Ali Zawam told the Libya Herald, “but unfortunately the ambulance could not reach Tripoli because of the blockage of the road.” Forced to turn around and take backroads, the vehicle did not reach Tripoli before the girl died, said Zawam.
The main road between Tarhouna and Bani Walid has been blocked since Sunday by militiamen from Tarhouna, in response to the murderous assault the day before on the Al-Malti gate, in which 15 soldiers were killed and two more have since died of their wounds.
Zawam said that Bani Walid officials had been seeking to meet elders from Tarhouna to protest the blockade but their approaches had so far been rejected. He warned that because of the closure, there was a growing shortage of fuel, medicines, food, cooking gas and other basics. He described the route as a vital artery linking Bani Walid with eastern and southern regions.
Zawam added that the road block was only adding to the sense of isolation that the people of Bani Walid felt. The town believed that it was not being considered by the government and the General National Congress. Despite visits in recent months by members of the local council to Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and other government members and senior officers, there had been no responses, Zawam said: “It seems that Bani Walid is not part of the new Libyan state.” [/restrict]
