By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 15 July 2017:
The elected mayor of Labraq has refused to hand over to the military officer appointed to run the municipality by Major-General Abdul Razzaq Al-Nazhuri, the chief of staff of the Libyan National Army (LNA) and appointed by the House of Representatives as governor from Ben Jawad to Derna.
Elected mayor Salem Bumleiha was replaced last month by Colonel Hussein Abdulkareem and according to reports in Benghazi had agreed to hand over. However, he has now changed his mind and is planning to go to court to challenge Nazhuri’s decree.
Bumleiha, however, has been quoted saying that he is not opposed in principle to Nazhuri appointing a military man to run Labraq, but that it should be someone from Labraq, not from neighbouring Shahat, which is where Abdulkareem comes from.
On Tuesday, Nazhuri dismissed yet another elected mayor in eastern Libya. Abduljalil Hamad was appointed mayor of Gemenis, 45 kilometres south of Benghazi, with Fathi Yousef as his deputy.
