By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 18 December 2014:
Mayors from across Libya are expected to converge on Sebha on Saturday for a two-day . . .[restrict]meeting to discuss common problems and how best to provide services and address the needs of local communities. The meeting is expected to result in the creation of an national body that would act as both a coordinating forum and lobbying organisation for the country’s 100 municipal councils.
“The mayors feel they need to unite to address problems and to talk with one voice,” an official at the Central Committee for Municipal Council Elections (CCMCE) told the Libya Herald.
The delegates were invited by the Mayor of Sebha Hamid Al-Khiyali.
The initiative follows two earlier mayoral gatherings, in Tripoli and Sabratha. These, however, drew in mayors supporting Libya Dawn. There has also been at least one gathering of mayors supporting the HoR.
Sebha is seen as relatively neutral territory despite the presence of Mistaran forces and, according to the CCMCE official, mayors on both sides of the political divide are expected to attend. “Some mayors from east will go,” he predicted, adding that the mayors of Zintan and Misrata were both expected to turn up.
Physically getting there, however, may present a major problem for many mayors and is likely to affect attendance. [/restrict]
