By Noora Ibrahim.
Benghazi, 16 August 2014:
Benghazi University Council is reported to have rejected today an offer from the Benghazi Shoura Council – . . .[restrict]the umbrella organisation linking Ansar Al-Sharia, 17 February Brigade and other allied groups and individuals – to provide security at its campus in the Garyounis area in the south of the city.
According to one of the student union leaders at the university, the chairman of the university council favoured the offer from the Shoura Council but the majority did not. Students, he said, were split. The offer was rejected, he explained, because of the motives.
“They [Benghazi Shoura Council] are not interested in protecting us,” the student leader told the Libya Herald. “They just want to use us as a human shield,” he claimed. He alleged that Ansar and its allies had stored weapons at the university and were afraid it might be attacked.
The heads of faculties have been discussing reopening the university for several days and on Thursday announced that staff should start work again tomorrow, Sunday and that classes would resume on Saturday 30 August. Security, however, is seen as a major impediment to any return to work. The university is in an area largely controlled by Ansar and its allies. The 17 February Brigade has its headquarters nearby. [/restrict]
