Document #1189430

RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Author)

Semiautonomy Declared In Eastern Libya

March 06, 2012
Tribal leaders and militia commanders in oil-rich eastern Libya have declared they are forming a semiautonomous region inside the country.
 
Some 2,000 representatives of major tribal leaders, militia commanders and politicians made the declaration at a meeting on March 6 in the city of Benghazi.
 
They said that "a federal system is the choice of the region" of Cyrenaica, which stretches from the central coastal city of Sirte to the Egyptian border in the east.
 
The move comes six months after the downfall of Libya's longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
 
Participants at the meeting said it was not intended to divide the country.
 
But they insisted it was a necessary step to end decades of the region's marginalization under Qaddafi.
 
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of Libya's National Transitional Council -- the interim central government in Tripoli -- responded angrily to the development, accusing unspecified Arab nations of supporting and financing sedition in eastern Libya.
 
With reporting by AP, and AFP

Copyright (c) 2010-2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

ecoi.net description:
Benghazi: Tribal leaders, militia commanders and politicians declare they are forming a semi-autonomous region in eastern Libya
Country:
Libya
Source:
RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Author)
Original link:
http://www.rferl.org/content/semiautonomy_declared_in_libya/24507015.html
Document type:
Media Report
Language:
English
Published:
6 March 2012
Document ID:
1189430 (former ID 211486)

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