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Tripoli, 3 August:
A ceremony is to be held in Murzuk on Saturday to welcome back displaced families who have been living . . .[restrict]in Tripoli. It is being organised by the Ministry of Local Government, according to the Government spokesman Nasser Al-Manaa, and is part of attempts to build national reconciliation.
The returnees are believed to comprise the 80 or so Arab families who fled the town during the revolution last year.
Murzuk has a large population of Tebus who were early supporters of the revolution. However, communal tensions have not been extensive, unlike in Kufra. Where they have occurred in Murzuk, they have been more to do with smuggling rivalries.
In Tripoli, the displaced Murzuk families have said that they want to go home but have not felt safe to do so. They reportedly wanted guarantees before returning. The matter, however, appears to have been settled for them. While in Tripoli, the authorities have been paying for their accommodation. It is now reported that the families have been told to go back and that the accommodation will no longer be paid for.
In mid-May, a member of Murzuk’s Arab community, Khaled Abu Salah, was murdered shortly after registering to stand as a candidate in the National Congress elections. [/restrict]
