By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 17 August 2014:
The House of Representatives (HoR) President Ageela . . .[restrict]Issa revealed this evening that the HoR had formed a committee tasked with attempting to achieve a ceasefire in the fighting between the warring militias in Tripoli.
Ageela, speaking live on the nine o’clock news of Al-Assema TV said that the committee would be in contact with “all sides in the conflict” in an effort to achieve “an immediate ceasefire”.
Furthermore, he added that the committee would be “at an equal distance from all sides (independent)” and urged all parties in the conflict to heed the HoR’s resolution calling on all sides to observe an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and to stop all the violence and attacks on civilians and their residential areas.
With regards to the HoR resolution calling for international help in achieving an end to the fighting between the warring militias, the HoR president said that the “international parties welcomed the decision”, adding that the effort in Libya as well as from efforts from supporters abroad were all in the direction of reaching an immediate ceasefire.
Ageela did not reveal any specifics of the international offers of help in achieving a ceasefire.
On another note, the HoR President also revealed that almost all of the members of the HoR who had departed Tobruk on an extended weekend last Wednesday/Thursday had in fact returned for work in Tobruk today.
Ageela’s comments come as a rebuff to the accusations by opponents of the HoR that HoR members in Tobruk were “kidnapped” and held “hostage” in Tobruk against their will.
The implied reasoning in Ageela’s comment is that if HoR members were held hostage they quite plainly would not willingly return to the HoR in Tobruk.
It will be recalled that about 30 Representatives (18 percent), mainly from the Islamist bloc, have boycotted the HoR and its meetings in Tobruk. They have questioned the newly elected legislature’s legitimacy and constitutionality. [/restrict]
