By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 20 December 2017:
UN envoy Ghassan Salamé has flown to Misrata to offer his condolences in person to the family and colleagues of assassinated mayor Mohamed Eshtewi as well as to the city.
“I lost a friend and we all lost a good man who loved his city and worked for his country”, he said on UNSMIL’s Facebook page.
The UNSMIL chief did not hold any official meetings during the visit.
It has also been announced that Municipal council member Mustafa Omar Karwad will become interim mayor of Misrata until new election is held among councillors for the post. He was previously the council member in charge of security.
It was agreed on Monday that he would take over temporarily, although he only held his first meeting today because the three days reserved for mourning.
A key priority for the interim mayor will be investigating those responsible for the attack, with no key suspects currently presented.
Meanwhile, controversial former grand mufti Sadiq Al-Ghariani jhas oined the array of figures condemning the assassination of Eshtewi.
Speaking in his weekly programme on his Tanasuh TV Ghariani called on Libyan to stand united against the “criminals” in an effort to deter them.
“The perpetrator is not necessarily one of the victim’s rivals,” he suggested. “Some crimes are committed to complicate matters and spread chaos and instability,” he claimed in an apparent attempt to exculpate radicals in Misrata and members of the Benghazi Defence Brigades – both of whom he supports – from blame for the murder.
