By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis, 30 May 2015:
Libyan municipalities should have a stronger voice in central government while being left to get . . .[restrict]on with providing their local citizens all the basic services, mayors and councillors said today.
Local politicians from all over the country this afternoon wrapped up a two-day meeting in Tunis, in which they considered the third draft of UNSMIL’s peace accord.
Apart from calling for decentralisation, the final communique suggested that what UNSMIL calls the “municipal track” of the dialogue is inching forward. There was a call for further reconciliation among rival communities, building on the agreement earlier this week between Misrata and the Tawerghans.
UNSMIL chief Bernardino Leon had earlier praised this deal and the talks currently under way between Zintan and Ghariyan. He also said that the local councils had a big role to play in the dialogue’s “security track”.
“Since municipalities are so close to so many important actors on the ground” Leon told the mayors and councillors, “you can also use your influence and your contacts to encourage all these military actors to contribute positively to this process. So, in this coming two, three weeks please use your positive influence to help us to succeed in the security track”.
He reminded his listeners that as elected local politicians, they had the strength that stemmed from direct contact with their citizens.
The final communique also called on all sides holding detainees illegally to use the opportunity of the holy month of Ramadan to set them free.
This evening, Janzour municipality reportedly released 66 prisoners from Warshefana, in what appears to have been a unilateral gesture. It is not clear if the move came as a direct result of the talks in Tunis.
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