Libya, Khalifa Haftar participates in the first forum of social components
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Alaina
- . March 31, 2021
- . Update: March 31, 2021 9:40 pm
Libya has officially embarked on the arduous process of national reconciliation. A forum was held in the eastern region on Tuesday, in which sheiks and dignitaries from the various Libyan social components participated, facilitated by the General Command of the Libyan National Army (LNA) and with the participation of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The meeting took place at the headquarters of the General Command in Al Rajma and stressed the need to hold national elections on the date set by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum without delay. The political dialogue forum that concluded in Geneva last month with the election of the new unified executive, has set the electoral time for December 24, 2021.
According to a statement from the Libyan Army General Command, the first forum for social components in Libya stressed the need to achieve political stability and to unite the Libyans through a global national reconciliation. Field Marshal Haftar praised the unlimited support of the armed forces to protect the homeland and fight terrorism and extremism, calling on the Libyans to lay the foundations for peace and the need to implement the national reconciliation project, to build a Libya for all Libyans.
The event comes after weeks of several security incidents in the eastern city of Benghazi. In a series of intense consultations between eastern tribes, the AL-Obeidat Council called for an end to enforced disappearances, killings, and kidnappings by out-of-control armed gangs. The Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs of the new unified transitional government went to Benghazi in recent days following the killing of the commander of the Special Forces Mahmoud al-Werfalli, and the discovery of some corpses found handcuffed in the area of the cement plant in the south of the city.
Meanwhile, in the western city of Zawiya, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Lafi attended the ceremony for the release of 120 LNA members who had been captured during military operations in April 2019, in an unsuccessful attempt to take over the capital Tripoli. The Libyan Vice President said that today, Wednesday, a national reconciliation project starts, based on forgiveness, tolerance, and overcoming the past with all its wounds and pain. “Today the power of the oppressed is shown over the oppressors through amnesty.”
Al-Lafi added that “their diligence is very precious to their families, as well as their ability to compromise in favor of the Libyan homeland and people”. The vice president also spent words of solidarity for the families of the victims, and for those who lost their homes during the unjust war, inviting them to embrace forgiveness and not revenge.
“We will not build a nation while we are divided, nor march towards a strong state while our children fight. Therefore, we must all be an uplifting support for the national reconciliation project with amnesty and tolerance.” Al-Lafi added, suggesting that Libyans rely on the judiciary which has the task of establishing the truth, investigating, and bringing to justice those who have been responsible for killings and other crimes.
