Dyb mistillid til overgangsregeringen efter Gaddafi får titusinder af revolutionskæmpere til at beholde deres våben – i et land, hvor hver familie har stakkevis stående
MISRATA, 29 December 2011 (IRIN): Mistrust of Libya’s interim administration is likely to deter (afskrække) tens of thousands of revolutionary fighters from complying with (efterkomme) a massive new demobilization plan, according to analysts and former rebels.
– There is no full trust in the government, said Adel AbdElmajid Zoubi, 28, who fought in the coastal town of Misrata, besieged for months by troops loyal to former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
He spoke to IRIN on 27 December, having just returned from a protest demanding the government cleanse public institutions of remnants of the old regime.
He was disappointed that the new government did not appear to prioritize revolutionaries and said he would not hand over his weapons until after elections – currently scheduled for June 2012 – and the creation from near-scratch of a new national army, in the wake of the demise of Gaddafi’s military machine.
– The reason people are hanging on is that they see their weapons as the guarantors of the revolution, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) emergencies director Peter Bouckaert, who was in and out of Libya during the nine-month war.
– They want to see the fruits of their revolution before they are going to give up their weapons, noted he.
On 25 December, the government announced a long-awaited plan to start re-integrating members of hundreds – if not thousands – of disparate militias which fought to displace Gaddafi, many of whom have retained their weapons since the fighting ended in October.
According to Ahmed Safar, undersecretary of the interim Labour Ministry, the hope is to integrate 75.000 fighters during 2012 – in a three-phase programme which will see a third joining the army, a third joining the police force and a third joining the regular labour force.
The government estimates there are 120.000 armed men who need to be demobilized. Almost every Libyan family has a stockpile of weapons in its home.
Members of militias – each with diverging loyalties to individual commanders, different cities or different religious agendas – have clashed with each other in recent months, killing several people and feeding fears that Libya could slide back into conflict.
Security vacuum
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