By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 13 November 2013:
Discussions on the number of seats for ethnic groups in the 60-Committee that will draw up . . .[restrict]a new constitution are ongoing, Congress spokesman Omar Hemidan has said.
The Amazigh community has said that it will boycott all elections in Libya in protest at being given just two seats on the committee. Amazigh activists have closed the Mellitah gas complex in support of their demands.
Speaking in a press conference on Tuesday, Hemidan said that some Congress members were opposed to making any decision on the issue. However, it was likely to come up on Sunday when Congress is due to vote on the name of the state, its flag, anthem, identity and language.
Each item would require one hundred and thirty four votes to be passed, he said.
“I am optimistic about will happen next Sunday” Amazigh Congressman Sulaiman Ghajam told the Libya Herald, adding that “there was already an agreement on the name of the state, anthem and flag”. But there had been heated discussions on a formal recognition of the Tamazight language, he said.
“We were about to vote on the Amazigh demands on Tuesday”, Ghajam said, but there had not been enough time because Congress had had long discussions on the issue of the Libya Revolutionaries Operation Room.
He said that because of the lack of movement, Amazigh protesters had decided they had no other choice except by using oil and gas fields in order to put pressure on Congress. [/restrict]
