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By Saber Ayyub.
Tripoli, 14 July 2015:
Flanked by some of his top commanders, Armed Forces commander-in-chief, General Khalifa Hafter tonight delivered an . . .[restrict]ambiguous analysis in the wake of the UNSMIL peace accord.
Speaking in a broadcast press conference, he touched on both the political and the military positions. He began by saying that the armed forces should be above the political process. They drew their legitimacy, he said, from the elected parliament.
However, when he turned to the need to ensure national security, he added that politicians should be prevented from interfering in army affairs. He also said that he did not want politicians from going into combat zones and making statements to camera.
In the formal setting of a meeting room at his Marj headquarters, Hafter had commanders ranged along tables on either side of him. They included army chief of staff Major-General Abdul Razzaq Al-Nazhuri, Saiqa special forces head Wanis Bukhamada, air force commander Saqr Geroushi, Colonel Jamal Zahawai Commander of 21 Brigade, Colonel Mahdi Bargathi commander of 204 Tank Brigade and Colonel Abdulsalam Hassi commander of Omar Mokhtar Room for the East of Libya. [/restrict]
