By Magharebia
By Asma Elourfi and Ali al-Gattani
As part of the push for autonomy, Libya’s oil-rich eastern zone just appointed its own military and administrative leaders.
Najib Suleiman al-Hasi will be commander-in-chief of the Cyrenaica defence forces, based in the town of Brega, while Abd Rabbo Abdul Hamid al-Barasi will head up the executive bureau based in al-Bayda, the regions’ political office chief announced last Wednesday (October 2nd).
According to Ibrahim Said al-Jadhran, the move was “designed to manage the affairs of the region, hence filling the void caused by the National Congress and the government”.
“The executive bureau’s priority will be to re-start the export of crude oil, and to invite foreign companies to work under new and stable security conditions in the region,” the political bureau chairman added.
The defence force of Cyrenaica, which comprises more than 20,000 troops, will protect the vast oil fields of the region, al-Jadhran confirmed.
He stressed that Libyan oil was a right for all, not only the people of Cyrenaica.
According to Cyrenaica council spokesman Osama Oraibi, the region’s military force would also have better equipment than local police.
“Its commander in chief will be known for his integrity, experience and competence,” he told Magharebia.
The force would secure Benghazi and Derna, which are suffering from bombings and assassinations, he said.
One of the leaders of the federalist bloc, Essam Jehani, said the nominations would be followed by “the Shura Council, the Senate, the preamble of the Constitutional Declaration and the basic provisions of the future road map”.
“The next steps are going to be bolder and more powerful and people in Benghazi, the capital of Cyrenaica, might face hostility because of that,” Jehani added.
“Hence we may take more stringent measures,” he said, “in terms of national security and the security of the region.”
Cyrenaica declared self-governance on June 1st.
Speaking at the time, a senior official told Libya Herald that the “inability of the government to take decisive action” led Cyrenaica to declare autonomy and “get on with running itself, while awaiting the rest of the country to pull itself together”.
