By Libya Herald staff.
26 September 2014:
Prince Mohamed Al-Rida Senussi has called on Libyans to unite and lay personal interests aside in . . .[restrict]favour of national ones.
Speaking publicly for the first time in over three years in a video recording issued on 24 December, the anniversary of Libya’s independence in 1951, the son of the late Crown Prince Hassan also condemned the violence and killings that have marked Libya since the revolution. Libyans had proved in the revolution that they wanted a democratic and free state. Libya had to be a civil democracy, he said. It could not belong to one tribe or town or city.
In a speech heavy on the country’s history, the prince, viewed by many Libyans in favour of restoring the monarchy as the legitimate pretender to the throne, noted that in their struggle against the Italian colonialists, the Senussi forces of resistance leader Omar Mukhtar had never turned their weapons on other Libyans, and the present generation – the “grandsons of Omar Mukhtar” – should not do so either.
The 24th of December was an important date for Libya, he said. Libyans had shown in 1951 that they could work together and produce a constitution that was the basis of the Libyan state. It had been done by people who loved their country. The inference was that it could be done again.
The 52-year-old prince not refer to a possible restoration of the monarchy or to his own position. Although a supporter of the revolution from the outset, he has not spoken publicly since May 2011. He has taken the view that it is up to the Libyan people to decide what political system they want. [/restrict]
