By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 28 February 2014:
The Prime Ministry has declared a state of alert in Benghazi in response to ongoing security . . .[restrict]issues in the city.
Measures to enhance security will be taken over the next few days, according to a statement on the government’s official website. The announcement followed a meeting of the crisis committee yesterday, which focused on Benghazi. The committee would be meeting in Benghazi next week, the government said, to oversee the implementation of its plans to enhance security.
In a televised press conference last night, the head of Benghazi Local Council, Mahmoud Abu Raziza, gave the General National Congress (GNC) and the government seven days to address deteriorating security in the city.
“Although we have given the government a week to address the security problems in Benghazi, they shouldn’t need this long,” Abu Raziza told the Libya Herald. “They should be able to start taking emergency measures within a matter of hours.”
If the government failed to adequately respond to the demand, he said, the revenue generated from Benghazi state institutions would be withheld from government accounts. The money would instead be redirected to the Benghazi Joint Security Room (BJSR) which is so short of funds it is unable to do its job improving security conditions in the city, Abu Raziza said.
The local council and BJSR continued to hold urgent meetings to follow the situation closely, he added.
The government’s sustained inability to address the almost daily assassinations of security personnel in the city provoked protests and road blockades on Wednesday. Local people came out to demonstrate against what they said was the government’s total neglect of the city. [/restrict]
