Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 16 April 2016:
The Tripoli home of former General National Congress (GNC) member Juma Sayeh was attacked and largely destroyed . . .[restrict]today. The house, next to the Swiss embassy in Ben Ashour, was blown up.
The attack follows the meeting in Benghazi three days ago of several former GNC members to decide whether to set up a state council in opposition to the one established in Tripoli. Sayah was one of the main speakers at the meeting and a prominent supporter of the move.
“That’s the cause,” Sayah told the Libya Herald. Those who had attacked his home were trying to intimidate him. But they would not succeed, he said, blaming Abdul Raouf Kara and Misratan forces for the attack. “We are supported by the tribes and the Libyan people,” he declared.
The attack, he said, was part of a continued campaign against him. The house was the fourth he owned in Tripoli to be assaulted, he stated. Fifteen other properties he had in the city had also been attacked. “They’re now in the hands of the Misratans,” he added. A further 42 properties belonging to various members of the family had also been attacked and seized.
“It is because we’re Wirshefani,” claimed Sayeh, who represented Annasiriyah in the GNC but currently resides in eastern Libya.
In the event, Wednesday’s meeting in Benghazi to decide whether to create an alternative state council (which would be based in the city) was inconclusive. Those attending the meeting decided to wait and see if the House of Representatives voted next week to approve the Libyan Political Agreement by amending the 2011 Constitutional Declaration.
The Tripoli State Council, itself controversial because it set itself up without the authorisation of the HoR, is now headed by Abdulrahman Sewehli. Ironically, his Tripoli home is just a stone’s throw from Sayah’s house attacked today. [/restrict]
