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By Ali Salem.
Tripoli, 18 November 2014:
A delegation from the House of Representatives (HoR) flew to the south west border town of . . .[restrict]Ghat yesterday to investigate local needs. The delegation, comprising 26 HoR members, was welcomed by the new Mayor of Ghat, Gomani Mohamed Saleh Bukhad, members of the municipal council as well as army officers and representatives of the civil society organisation in the area.
Last week, local elders appealed for food and other supplies declaring the town a disaster area after the road in was closed off as a result of military operations by the Misratan Third Force. Local residents claim that the town is now under siege and being punished because of its support for the HoR.
“Our town has been under siege and we have been deprived of aids coming to us,” the Head of Ghat Council of Elders, Rajab Ahmed Almasri, said in a speech during the meeting with the visiting delegation. “We recognise only the HoR as the sole legitimate body of the Libya,” he stated.
In response, the Second Deputy President of the HoR, Ahmed Arhuma told Ghat officials that the government was working to ensure safe passage for supplies entering the town. Also he promised them that the HoR would press the government to pay extra attention to Ghat and the south in general.
It was claimed last week that the Hassi antigovernment in Tripoli had offered to allow food suuplies into the town providing it switched allegiance.
Ghat was chosen by Abdullah Al-Thinni as the location for his first cabinet meeting in March this year, after he was appointed Prime Minister by the General National Congress. At the time he too held discussions with local leaders about the town’s needs. [/restrict]
