By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 19 January 2014:
The highway from Derna to Tobruk was reopened last night after local residents from Martuba, some . . .[restrict]25 kilometres east of Derna, had closed it earlier in the day following Friday’s kidnapping of two Italian workers.
Their vehicle was found abandoned by colleagues near Martuba.
“The road was reopened after the intervention by members of Derna and Martuba Shura councils,” a source at Derna Local Council told the Libya Herald.
The residents blockading the road had demanded the government and Congress improve security in the area and ensure an end the attacks and assassinations that have been taking place in and around Derna.
Local people wanted the town and area to be secure and were willing to take action, the source said, but the government had to take the lead and implement measures both to ensure law and order and the release of the Italians. Without it, the local economy would suffer. The community wanted to see the return of foreign companies again, the source explained. [/restrict]