Tripoli 10 March:
The Suq Al-Juma brigade has handed over its control of Tripoli’s Mitiga airbase to the Libyan airforce.
The decision to . . .[restrict]hand over the base occurred just 24 hours after a national conference in Misrata ordered brigades across the country to hand over everything under their control — ports, airports, border posts, camps, buildings and other assets — to the relevant NTC devolved authorities.
The airport is the main air force base in the country, although part of it was used for civilian flights before the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime.
The government had ordered militias to hand over ports and airports last month with a deadline of last Monday. Although brigades in the east of the country complied with the order, those in the west, including the Suq Al-Juma brigade, did not.
Part of the airport is still under the control of forces belonging to Tripoli Military Council, lead by Abdul Hakim Belhaj. It has not yet been established if they have handed over the area of the airbase that they to the airforce, as required under this week’s Misrata agreement to which all the brigades signed up. [/restrict]
