By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 2 November 2016:
Sebha-based southern security chief Colonel Ahmed Baraka has quit after critics apparently called him irresponsible.
In his resignation letter to Beida interim premier Abdullah Al-Thinni, Baraka, whose position is overseen by the interior ministry, said his move came after critical comments from other southern security chiefs.
Baraka volunteered to submit to any investigation into his record. It appears that some of the accusations levelled against him relate to the movement of sub-Saharan migrants, now referred to by the international community as “irregular migrants”.
More generally, Sebha continues to have severe security problems for which Baraka might be blamed.
Last month 17 people were murdered in and around the town. By some accounts, 193 people have been killed locally so far this year and 128 people kidnapped. The slayings have come as a result of carjackings (532 cars were stolen at gunpoint), robberies, personal feuds or the murder of people who had been seized for ransom.
The challenges have been compounded by a breakdown in the local court system and the paralysis of local prisons and police. It is not simply lack of money to run the justice administration but also the failure to pay salaries that has undermined law and order.
