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| Africa North |
| Libyans demand professional army |
| 2013-09-20 |
| [MAGHAREBIA] Citizens are demanding the dissolution of the Libya Shield brigades in order to give the army a chance to secure the country. They claim that not much has improved, even after General National Congress (GNC) President Nuri Abu Sahmein last month gave the body, which is comprised of irregular forces, the mandate to protect Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... Prime Minister Ali Zidan had also endorsed the group, declaring on June 20th: "The Shields have made significant and distinct efforts for the revolution and we do not want to deny them the honour to be stakeholders in nation-building". Still, concerns remained about the Shields after the Kweifieh festivities. The June incident near Benghazi left more than 40 anti-militia protesters dead. And the Shield's contribution is questionable, citizens say. According to civil society activist Leila Maghrebi, there has been little improvement to security in the capital city since the arrival of the Shield brigades. "We have not noticed their presence on the streets. There have already been several incidents, and they did not lift a finger," she said. For journalist Fathi Ismail, Libyan authorities face a real challenge trying to rebuild the army, given the "proliferation of gangs often affiliated with the state, but only in form". "Despite demands to activate security and military institutions, especially the army, and to incorporate civilians who took up arms against the Qadaffy regime", he said, not much has changed. "That will take some time," Ismail said. Political analyst Omar Keddy said that "the creation of the Shields was one of those failed solutions that resulted in fattening even more the illegal militias". "We must force all of them to hand over their weapons or force them to join the armed forces in a systematic manner," he told Magharebia. Libya's difficulty in building an army is the fault of the "pseudo-rebels who stole the revolution", he said. "In Tripoli especially, the number of 'rebels' after the revolution exceeds the number of rebels during the revolution," he said. He noted that in eastern Libya, "Islamists dominated from the outset all military activities, because of their experience in Afghanistan, while liberals preferred to stand in front of the North Benghazi Court." "We ended up as hostages to myrmidons, be they followers of radical Islam or followers of regional leaders," the analyst said. "The solution lies in the return of the ordinary citizens who participated in the revolution to overthrow these militias," Keddy said. "We have to organise ourselves as citizens with a collective spirit," the analyst said."You watch over me when I sleep and I will watch over you when you sleep, but we can't sleep all at the same time." |
| Posted by:Fred |