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By Hadi Fornaji.
Tunis, 26 March 2017:
The House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk has attacked the decision by the Presidency Council (PC) to create a new 3,000-strong military unit to guard Sirte.
Rejecting the PC’s right to set up such a force, the HoR’s Defence and National Security Committee said that only the military establishment under Khalifa Hafter could make such a decision. Any institution which was not under its control had to be seen as a militia supporting “extremism and terrorism”, it said in a statement today.
The PC announced the new force a couple of days ago, putting it under the command of Brigadier Ali Abushahmeh. Unusually, it also said that soldiers service in the brigade would receive a monthly salary of LD 2,00 a month – a salary similar to that being paid to militia members for the past two years.
