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| Africa North |
| Gawairi attacks Turkey, reaches out to Tunisia, expects little help from UN |
| 2015-03-03 |
| [Libya Herald] The Beida-based government's information chief, Omar Gawairi, has claimed that the government has evidence of ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... providing support to what he called "terrorist groups" in Libya. Speaking in an interview broadcast on Egyptian TV on the position taken on Libya by a number of countries, he said the most blatant evidence of Turkey's stand was the fact that it was allowing maimed "terrorists" to be treated in Turkish hospitals while others were being given shelter there. The Thinni government, he confirmed, had decided to end Turkish contracts but this would be passed to the House of Representatives to vote on. Those contracts, he suggested, could be given to Italian and Egyptian companies -- especially, in the case of the latter, construction contracts. The fact that Italian and Egyptians companies might be reluctant to accept such contracts because they might be sued by affected Turkish companies was not addressed. A number of countries, Gawairi claimed, were giving technical assistance to Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... , including providing spare parts and upkeep for military aircraft. The only country he named was Sudan which, he alleged, had an aircraft maintenance team at Jufra airbase, near Hun. Again, he said, the government had the evidence, including names of the technicians and voice recordings. Criticism was directed too at the UK and the US. In the case of the UN Security Council and the government's request for sanctions on arms supplies to be lifted, Libyans should not hold out much hope of it happening, he said. Libya would have to rely instead of support from "friendly countries". Thanks to it the government had been able to continue the fight against the "terrorists", he stated. But that support could not be military intervention, he insisted. It was purely a matter of arms supplies. Holding out olive branch to Tunisia following last week's row over Tunisian plans to reopen its consulate in 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... as well as one in Tobruk, Guwairi said that there had been a misunderstanding. In fact the Libya government recognised that the Tunisian authorities had to look after the interests of its citizens in Tripoli and had taken the decision in that light, he explained. Fundamentally, though, there were no differences between the two governments. |
| Posted by:Fred |