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By Nihal Zaroug.
Tripoli, 13 November 2012:
Staff at Zueitina Oil staged a sit-in on 7 November to demand the relocation of the . . .[restrict]company’s management to the town of Ajdabiya. The protesters, who were located at the town of Zueitina near Ajdabiya, requested that the decision to open an executives’ branch in Benghazi, independent from the Tripoli headquarters, be overturned. Outgoing Oil Minister Abdulrahman Ben Yazza cancelled this decision upon learning of the demonstrators’ requests.
On 10 November, to avert further disruption and end the sit-in, National Congress President Mohamed Magarief paid an urgent visit to Zueitina. Congressmen from Ajdabiya, Mousa Faraj and Mohamed Emazab, accompanied Magarief, along with a number of other officials and Zueitina personnel, to come to an agreement with the protesters and settle their grievances.
In other news, demonstrators from the city of Zintan staged a peaceful protest outside the National Congress and in the main square of the mountain town of Zintan on 11 November, demanding Magarief make an apology for remarks made during a military parade in the town of Shagiga, one of the towns populated by the Mashasha tribe.
It was alleged that during the speech, Magarief described Shagiga as a town of brave warriors and fighters. These remarks infuriated Zintanis, who say that their first martyr during the revolution was killed by a member of the Mashasha from Shagiga. The Mashasha tribes were considered a pro-Qaddafi faction during the revolution, similar to the support the Wershefana and Bani Walid offered to the former regime. In June, severe clashes broke out between Zintan and Shagiga which left 105 people dead, according to government figures.
Magarief met with representatives of the protesters behind closed doors, in which it is said that the representatives demanded an apology and the resignation of the head of the armed forces General Yousef Mangoush. Sources close to the meeting also claimed that the representatives threatened to use force if their demands were not met.
GNC members were aware and informed of the planned visit to Shagiga without disapproval from any of the members including the congressman from Zintan. No public apology has been made to date, but it is believed that the grievances have been addressed and all parties satisfied. [/restrict]
