By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoi, 12 August 2017:
The reconciliation committee aimed at ensuring peace between Zintan and the Mashashia tribe has been meeting in Bani Walid in the latest bid to try and finally put end the conflict between the two.
It was agreed that displaced members of the Mashashia currently staying in Mizdah would be able to return to their homes in the Jebel Nafusa town of Awiniya, that would be no more fighting between the two sides and no more demonising of each other through the media or by any other means.
The committee was formed at the beginning of last year during peace talks in Al-Asaba, near Gharyan. It comprises representatives from both communities supervised by officials from Al-Asaba. At that meeting it was also agreed that there would be an exchange of prisoners and that displaced Mashashia residents would be able to return home.
While prisoners have been released, there has been little movement on helping the displaced to return. A fortnight ago, complaining that the tribe was being deliberated ignored by almost everyone in authority, including the Presidency Council (PC) and the House of Representatives, a group of young Mashashia men threatened action unless the PC started immediately talking to the tribe’s elders, in particular about returning to Awiniya. That resulted in a meeting on Monday between the elders and PC deputy Ahmed Maetig, where he promised that he would visit Awiniya and address their complaints. These include the need for a modern infrastructure.
