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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 20 March 2014:
The government has called on the international community, in particular the United . . .[restrict]Nations, to help in rooting out terror groups operating in the country, notably in Benghazi, Derna and Sirte.
Last month alone, 51 people were killed in what were seen as politically motivated assassinations in the three places.
In a statement issued at the send of the cabinet meeting in Ghat, the cabinet stressed its commitment to preserve the right to life for all Libyans and win the war against terror as soon as possible.
In its Ghat statement released yesterday, the second of the three-day mourning for the military students killed in a Benghazi car bomb on Monday, it said that Benghazi, Derna and Sirte were the victims of a terrorist war carried out by Libyans and foreigners with their own agenda.
The situation was such that the government had to use all its military and security resources to combat “this scourge”, the statement said. It indicated that military force was the only way “of restoring security and safety to our beloved cities”.
“These terrorist groups have exceeded all values and trampled on all norms, neglecting all the good laws and conventions, and devastated the lives of our citizens and foreigners”.
What was happening in Libya and the targeting of foreigners was damaging Libya’s relations with its friends and the international community, the Ghat statement said.
At no point did it indicate who the terrorists were. Most Libyans as well as the international community see militant Islamists as responsible for the killings in Benghazi and Derna. In Sirte, former regime supporters are viewed as being involved as well.
In a telephone conversation with Libya Al-Ahrar TV channel, Mizhah Congressman Ibrahim Abushaala insisted that the latest investigations indicated that Qaddafi loyalists were “behind the assassinations and lack of security in the country”. Bushaala, a member of the Congressional Interior Affairs Committee, added that the Interior Ministry had promised Congress to reveal the identity of those involved but had not done so yet.
However, another Congress member told the Libya Herald on condition of anonymity that Qaddafi supporters were not the only ones behind what is currently happening in the country. Libyans and foreign interests were involved in the killings, he said, because it was not their interests that a stable Libya be built. [/restrict]
