By Moutaz Ali.
Tripoli, 23 March 2017:
After being forced into the frontline of national conflict for the past six years and it is time for Misrata to put an end to this and commit itself to peace, Misrata municipal councillor Abubaker Al-Hareesh has said.
His call, on by Misrata TV today, comes as divisions between hardliners led by the city’s military council leader Ibrahim Ben Rajeb and pragmatists supporting mayor Mohamed Eshtewi came to a head with the former attacking the offices of the municipal council on Friday and Misrata FM radion and Misrata TV on Sunday, and then, two days ago, announcing that the municipal council had been removed.
Interviewed today, Al-Hareesh, who topped the poll in the council elections three years ago but never made it to being elected mayor, insisted that Misratans had had enough of ideological conflicts and would not be dragged into new ones with their fellow Libyans.
The Misratan hardliners are part of the wider Libyan rejectionist front that spurns both the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Hafter and the internationally-supported Presidency Council. Instead it backs the Benghazi Defence Brigades in their battle with the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Hafter as well as fellow Misratan Khalifa Ghwell who claims to be the country’s sole legitimate prime minister.
“The city suffers seriously from conflicts into which it has been dragged by certain group. It has resulted in major social disasters, including an increase in the number of martyrs, widows, orphans, as well as the injured and those now addicted to drugs,” Al-Hareesh said today.
Misrata has been fooled into taking part in the armed struggles such as the Bani Walid war in 2012 and the Libya Dawn operation in 2014, he stated.
It was now time to throw away the guns and stretch out a hand for peace in partnership with others in the country, he said. The time was now, he insisted.
“We have to understand that the war is a disaster and results in nothing except more hatred.” Misrata had to reach out and help achieve reconciliation and peace in Libya,” he said.
Al-Hareesh also noted out that the municipal council had managed to prevent Misratans becoming entangled in a new war in Tripoli.
“We’ve been waiting for the present moment to arrive because we were aware of certain attitudes and of what was being planned,” he said, adding that there were those who wanted to use Misrata for their own agendas.
But “we” have spoiled their plans, he said.
