By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 12 November 2013:
At Sunday’s press conference, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan warned that wages will be stopped as of . . .[restrict]31 December this year to all those ex-fighters (thuwar) who have not officially conscripted to the official security forces.
Zeidan stressed to all commanding officers that personnel who do not have an official National ID number will not be paid and that they would be released from their jobs.
He said that this time there will be no exception or intermediation (wasta) accepted, hinting that this may have been the case previously.
Addressing the thuwar and armed groups specifically, Zeidan said that after “what had happened over the weekend” no-one will get paid unless they have a National ID number.
Anticipating pressure from the armed groups, Zeidan asked for the public to support the government on the issue. “We cannot stand alone”.
With regards to Law No 27, which had called for all the fighting groups to conscript to official security forces and to vacate Tripoli, Zeidan said that his government had made some progress, but that it takes time to implement the policy and that places needed to be found for any new conscripts. [/restrict]
