By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 7 September 2016:
There is growing anger in Zintan over the failure of Misrata to free a group of Zintanis who, it is claimed, were part of the deal that led to this week’s release of politician Suleiman Zubi.
Zubi, a Benghazi representative in the former General National Congress but who originally comes from Misrata, was released by the Zintan militia that had held for more than two years following protracted negotiations. According to the Zintanis, these were conducted through respected Misratan elder Mohamed Abdulaal and, in return for Zubi’s release, some 11 Zintani young men held in Misrata were to be likewise freed.
According to Omar Matoq, the head of media at Zintan airport, the Misratans have not kept their part of the bargain. He said on his Facebook page yesterday that the parents of the missing men had told him that the 11 were being released that day and had been put on a bus to Tripoli. They had also been provided with mobile phones so they could contact their families. In the afternoon, however, some of the young me phoned up saying that they were still being held and had been taken to a prison elsewhere.
An official in Misrata, however, has cast down on any such agreement. Zubi had been released, the official suggested, as the result of a deal between Presidency Council head Faiez Serraj and Zintan military strongman Mukhtar Al-Akhdar under which in return for Zubi’s freedom, Serraj would replace the GNA’s current defence minister Al-Mahdi Al-Barghathi with Mustafa Al-Juwaili. From Zintan, Juwaili was defence minister under Prime Minister Abdulrahim Al-Kib.
Al-Akhdar was behind Serraj’s visit to Zintan ten weeks ago.
