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By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 6 March 2017:
Expectations of further help for the south of the country from the Presidency Council (PC) were dashed yesterday when PC member Abdussalam Kajman had talks in Tripoli yesterday with 11 mayors from Fezzan. Rather than promising help to deal with the growing social problems in the south, Kajman only looked at border security, one of the mayors present at the meeting told the Libya Herald.
The source expressed the collective frustration of his counterparts that Kajman appeared disinterested in formulating a plan to alleviate their issues. No attention was given to the mayors’ concerns about their municipalities, he noted, especially the rise in crime. Instead his focus was on dealing the porous borders in Libya.
However, even on that subject there was little of concrete value, the payor noted.
Kajman reportedly told the mayors the memorandum of understanding signed with Italy last month, which provides financial assistance to combat illegal migration, needed to be enacted before any work on the borders could begin.
South Libya has suffered from lawlessness, illegal trafficking of people, weapons and cars, and power outages that have crippled the region.
Three weeks ago, PC deputy Ahmed Maetig insisted the Council was as concerned as anyone about the southern region. However, despite these comments, he added the PC was still awaiting proposals from the municipalities.
A week ago, the PC said it had approved the creation of a university of Fezzan based in Murzuk. But it is not thought that anything on this will happen for some time – at least not before Libya is stabilised.
