First Elections for Local Council Mandate in Libya

On Monday, the citizens of Misrata city were called to elect the 28 new members of the Misrata local council. Misrata, inhabited by around 300,000 people, is the third largest of the country and suffered one of the most violent strikes of the Libyan’s uprising, as it was heavily bombed by the former leader Muammar Gadhafi forces. Despite the destructions, Misrata became ‘a rare bastion of order in Libya,’ with efficient local governments, in contrast with the capital city of Tripoli where the National Transitional Council (NTC) struggled to enforce the rules. Professor of politcal sciences in Misrata, Mohammed Berween said ”We call it the Misrata model. It will be given to the rest of the country as a gift, that we can do it. It is the Obama slogan: ‘Yes we can’.” However, these elections are another example of the fracturing of Libya between local self-ruling structures maintaining loose link with the NTC. The NTC announced that the national parliament elections will be held in June 2012.

Meanwhile, the NTC issued a law offering amnesty on all crimes committed before the revolution, except those related to personal crimes and crimes of vengeance. The law targets particularly armed groups that refused to hand in their weapons and challenge directly the NTC ‘s authority.

Tuesday, a Red Crescent worker, Moussa Bazama, said more than 50 civilians were killed in the past 24 hours in tribal warfare in southern Libya. The warfare opposed the Arab tribe of al-Zwia and the African Tabu tribe where the borders of Libya, Sudan and Chad meet.