By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 7 May 2017:
Municipalities covering Libya’s five world heritage sites have set up an association to help them protect the sites and promote them.
The mayor of Ghadames, Ghat, Khoms, Sabratha and Shahat signed an accord in Shahat on Saturday creating the Association of Municipalities of Libyan World Heritage Sites following a conference in Shahat addressed by archaeologists and civil society activists.
The five world heritage sites are Ghadames old town, the Rock-Art sites of the Tadrart Acacus mountains near Ghat, the Roman ruins at Sabratha and at Leptis Magna (the latter at Khoms), and the archaeological remains at Cyrene in modern-day Shahat.
There is growing international and nation concern about vandalism and destruction at the sites as well as urban encroachment in the cases of Leptis Magna and Cyrene.
The creation of the association follows agreement in March between Beida-based interim prime minister Abdullah Al-Thinni and a number of the country’s antiquities and cultural heads that to help deal with the threats there needed to be increased public awareness of the country’s rich legacy and that the local authorities’ role in protecting sites should be expanded.
The new association is now looking for funding.
