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By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 14 February 2015:
The General National Congress has vowed to retake parts of Sirte seized in recent days by . . .[restrict]gunmen linked to IS.
Nuri Abu Sahmain, the speaker of the rump of the old parliament today chaired what was described as an urgent meeting of Dawn militia leaders and politicians at which it was agreed to form a “joint military force” to recapture positions in Sirte now overrun by IS.
These include the local broadcaster Makdimas FM radio, Ibn Sina Hospital, the passport authority and social security buildings and the Ouagadougou Conference complex.
The meeting described the IS gunmen as “an illegitimate armed group”. It said that when they had been removed from “state property”, the GNC would foster the creation of an Operations Room to follow up the military and security position in the town.
IS meanwhile on Friday issued a warning that all militia units should quit Sirte, giving a deadline of tomorrow (Sunday).
The president of the rump of the GNC also complained the Egyptian government had not contacted Tripoli and thus not provided the names of the Egyptians kidnapped in Sirte. These men have been pictured being paraded in Gitmo-style orange jumpsuits in what might have been the initial stages of a mass-beheading. Th GNC statement suggested that had this information been available, Libya Dawn could have acted against the kidnappers of 21 Coptic Egyptians
The GNC’s Facebook page said that the it had contacted the Hassi-government’s interior ministry to confirm the news that these men had been kidnapped and killed. The GNC went on to suggest that if Cairo didn’t want to talk directly to Libya Dawn on the question of the fate of the seized Copts, it would be happy to deal with the Egyptian government through a third party.
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