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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 28 December 2013:
Waleed Abu Sala, the Misrata man who set out from his home city on Tuesday . . .[restrict]to walk the 201 kilometres to Tripoli to promote peace and national unity, ended his journey in the capital’s Martyrs Square this afternoon.
“I’m so very happy and I can’t begging to tell you about all the love and generosity I experienced from everyone on my walk from Misrata to Tripoli,” Abu Sala told the Libya Herald this afternoon. “So many people gave me food and some of them opened the doors of their homes so I could take a break.”
Abu Sala stressed that he did not have any kind of message to give to the government or Congress because he was not a politician. The aim of his walk, he said, was designed simply to convey a message of peace to Libyans.
Nonetheless, he expressed the hope that young people from across the country, especially from Tripoli, would undertake the same sort of trip to show to the world that the Libyans were united by their love of the country.
He had suffered pains in his legs during the walk, but that was nothing compared to people’s reactions. They were a proof that his ideas were shared by all.
“What I’ve learned from my trip is that Libyans do love each other,” he said, “and so-called tribalism and hatred really does not exist”.
He had received phone calls of support during the trip from towns and cities across the country and from the Libyans living outside the country as well as war wounded who were still having treatment abroad.
Families and individuals, he said, had stopped their cars to have their pictures taken with him and to express their enthusiasm and backing for bringing Misrata and Tripoli closer together again.
No one, however, from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs or from Tripoli Local Council was in Martyrs Square to greet him on arrival. [/restrict]
