By Libya Herald staff.
Benghazi/Tripoli 30 September 2015:
Benghazi municipal council has accused Misrata of sending terrorists and weapons to Benghazi and demanded . . .[restrict]that it stop the flow immediately.
In a strongly-worded letter signed yesterday by the mayor of Benghazi, Omar Al-Barasi, the council said it had evidence as the result of confessions from prisoners that the authorities in Misrata were actively involved of dispatching terrorists and weapons by sea to Benghazi.
Barasi said he held Misrata municipal council, its military council, its elders, and Central Libya Shield forces directly responsible for bloodshed in his city. Their actions were incompatible with the principles of the 17th February Revolution. Benghazi council would seek to prosecute them in the court, he added.
The attack is unprecedented. There were close ties between Misrata and Benghazi during the revolution and many families in Libya’s second city originally hail from Misrata.
There have, however, been persistent reports over the past year of boats moving between Misrata and Mreisa harbour in south Benghazi, bringing in fighters and weapons for Ansar Al-Sharia (and more recently for the Islamic State) and taking out wounded, either for treatment in Misrata or to be flown on to Turkey.
The Libyan National Army has proved unable to take the harbour but has bombed both it and vessels coming and going. However, this has failed to stop the flow.
So far, there has been no response from Misrata. [/restrict]
