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| Africa North | ||||
| Libyan troops demand pay in time for Eid | ||||
| 2011-11-05 | ||||
BENGHAZI: Armed troops who helped bring down the Qaddafi regime were on the streets of Benghazi on Thursday demanding they be paid. They said that they had not received any money since the revolution started in February.
At one point in the afternoon, a group of about 150 in angry mood blocked access to the city's Uzu hotel, home to a number of foreign journalists. It was the second time during the day that protesters targeted the hotel. "The Qaddafi regime at least paid its soldiers," one of the protesters, a member of the city's Tahrir brigade, said. "Because we're volunteers, we don't get anything."
The protests have been growing in frequency and in the number with the approach of Eid. The previous day, groups of soldiers armed with both weapons and placards held up traffic in a succession of strikes across the city. By mid-evening, around 100 stopped traffic outside the city's top hotel, the Tibesti, where a number of foreign diplomats stay and have their offices. There too, the main complaint was about pay. "No-one is paying attention to us," complained 25-year-old Abdullah Binhariz, a member of the Benghazi brigade. "Eid is very near and we don't have any money to celebrate." Despite the inconvenience of blocked streets and traffic jams, drivers backed the soldiers, hooting their horns in solidarity and giving thumbs-up signs. Money was not the only complaint. Apart from the claims about lack of treatment for injured colleagues in hospital, a claim the NTC has vehemently denied, there was clear concern about exactly where the NTC was taking Libya and fears that Benghazi was again being side-lined as it had been under former dictator Muammar Qaddafi. The future, the protesters said, was now "a mystery to us." "We must have a federal system like the US," Issa Mahmoud, university student turned fighter, said, "Like Canada and the UAE," said fellow protester Mohamed Assaiti, Benghazi had to have its own state government, he insisted. The others agreed. "No to Tripoli," they insisted. There was also opposition to certain individuals in government, notably the TNC's deputy leader and official spokesman, Abdul Hafez Ghoga. "Jibril good, Ghoga no good," the demonstrators chanted. "No to bad leaders." The demonstration may also have been prompted by Monday's decision by the TNC to appoint Abdel Rahman Al-Kib, from Tripoli, as prime minister in place of Mahmoud Jibril. "We know nothing about Al-Kib," several demonstrators complained. The US educated Jibril is popular in Benghazi but had been the focus of attacks from Libya's Muslim Brotherhood led by Ali Al-Salabi. In fact, Jibril had promised to resign as soon as Libya was declared liberated. That declaration was made on Sunday, Oct. 23. His resignation is, however, not a victory for Al-Salabi whose own popularity took a tumble after he appeared on Al Jazeera TV in September calling for Shariah law in Libya. There were mass demonstrations against him with protesters stating that he had no mandate to say what sort of society Libya should become. NTC head Mustafa Abdul Jalil has since said that Shariah will be the basis of law in Libya although exactly what this means is unclear and any decision will be made by the elected assembly that draws up a new constitution. On Wednesday, some protesters tried to strike a conciliatory note. "The TNC does not have a magic wand," said one of them, Sulaiman Tayira. "It cannot change the system in eight months. But we don't want the old people (Qaddafi supporters) back." "We want to be a democracy. We want to be a normal Muslim country," said another protester. But given the protesters' anger on Thursday, the TNC will have to react fast. "This will get bigger if the soldiers are not paid," noted one local journalist. "These men will have to be promised something before Eid." | ||||
| Posted by:Steve White |