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| Africa Horn |
| Families left in the lurch in Ganfouda, Benghazi, denounce Haftar’s order to leave |
| 2016-07-18 |
| [Libya Observer] The families stranded in Ganfouda district, Benghazi, have decried the urge made by Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... ’s forces to immediately leave the district, denouncing at the same time the threatening language used by those forces, saying there is no guarantee that they would go out safely, and who would receive them and they don’t know whether their passage is secure or not. The families added that according to experience, they know how rockets and shelling can be fired at them while going out of the district, saying such an experience makes them too horrified and cautious to trust such urges, pointing out that they still remember the agony the elderly went through after they left the area. "We are not comfortable with the phrase "You have been warned", in the urge sent by Khalifa Haftar’s forces. The families added. "We don’t refuse to go out of the festivities zone, but we find the timing of urging us out very suspicious and enigmatic, thus we want a safe passage to the city we find fit away from any kind of threats by anyone." They indicated. Ganfouda residents received paper from the air thrown by Khalifa Haftar’s aircraft calling on them to immediately evacuate their houses before they raid the area, knowing that the families had urged for a safe passage repeatedly, however; Haftar’s militias did not say how they would find a safe passage for the families, yet they just threatened them against staying. |
| Posted by:Fred |