By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 11 November 2013:
At yesterday’s press conference, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said that if Libyans want a civilian state they should . . .[restrict]give up all weapons exclusively to the state and the official police and army.
He said that the outbreak of violence last Thursday and Friday were the “ultimate proof that weapons outside official security forces were a big danger”.
Zeidan was speaking after fighting broke out on Tripoli’s central seafront promenade between two sets of thuwar (ex-fighters) from Suq il Juma and Misrata, increasingly seen as militias by the general public,
The clashes had left two dead and 29 injured and Misrata City Council had moved quickly to distance itself from the Tripoli-based armed group.
Referring to the deaths and injuries, Zeidan said that these weapons were a danger even to the armed groups themselves. The Prime Minister condemned the indiscriminate firing of “heavy arms” right in the heart of the capital, on a scale not witnessed since the end of the 2011 conflict.
This incident portrayed the worse picture of Libya, Zeidan added.
Why and what was the reason for the fighting, Zeidan asked, without answering his own question.
Implicitly responding to widespread criticism by the general public with regard to the absence of the government during the weekend troubles, Zeidan said it was “easy sitting at home and being critical”.
Surprisingly, he insisted that government security agencies were present during the incident, although given the minor damage caused to buildings ranging from Al-Waddan hotel near the flyover, to the Ministry of Planning, to the Radisson hotel and up to the Foreign Ministry over about three hours – it is difficult to believe that government agencies had any effective presence.
Zeidan blamed the fighting on “the situation” his government found itself in. He said the weapons made available by the revolution were “kept by tribes and cities” who wanted to keep their weapons to “defend the revolution”.
However, he said that it was those who hold weapons are Libyans and it is they that are “threatening the peace and security”.
Again implicitly referring to widespread public criticism of inaction and failure to use force as a deterrent against those who use weapons to disturb the peace and security, Zeidan asked: Do you want us to shoot at them?
Zeidan said that his government was not installed with weapons.” We are civilians”, he stressed. If we want a civilian state we should give up all weapons exclusively to the state and the official police and army.
There are some who want to stop the creation of the state, the police and the army, Zeidan reiterated. They want weapons to stay with the tribes and cities, he explained. [/restrict]
