Not a single area in Libya has as intermingled a tribal population as in Cyrenaica, where communities are characterized by Arab migration and intertribal marriages, which have resulted in an anthropologically new texture. Those separating the urbanites from the Bedouin in Cyrenaica therefore, are aiming to separate Libya itself.

Not a single area in Libya has as intermingled a tribal population as in Cyrenaica, where communities are characterized by Arab migration and intertribal marriages, which have resulted in an anthropologically new texture. Those separating the urbanites from the Bedouin in Cyrenaica therefore, are aiming to separate Libya itself.

After the Benghazi Student Uprising in 1964, the monarchy, in its attempt to gain support, tried to exploit the event to provoke the clans against Benghazi. But the late Abdulkader Allam sent his famous letter, aired on Benghazi Radio saying, “Abedat Clan has 60,000 fighters ready to defend Benghazi.”

We still remember the Awakir Tribe’s position, as expressed by their chief, Abdulhamid Abbar, when Gaddafi described Benghazi as part of their homeland in April 1977 and demanded to invade it. “People of Benghazi are our relatives and we demand a constitution. You can’t hide history behind a sieve,” Abbar had said.

Cyrenaica is not a matter of petroleum; it is a matter of justice, as large petroleum reserves are proven to be in the south and southwestern area known as Murzuk Reservoir. The petroleum of Sirte and Assarir has been fully consumed. Thus, it is not a matter of petroleum, which Cyrenaica does not even have, but about its ever lost justice.

A state’s founding

Cyrenaica was founded by virtue of a 1951 constitution, where most of its high ranking officials were affiliated to urban clans. Only one of the five federal governments formed during the implementation of the federal system initiated by 1962 constitution included one prime minister from Cyrenaica, namely Mustafa Ben Halim, two from Misrata, one from the Western Mountain and one from Fazan. How could we say that the rule under that federal system was restricted to the people of Cyrenaica?

I call for justice and ask critics to consider the circumstances under which this call for separating Cyrenaica was launched, within the context of the state’s failure to impose its authority upon the country and achieve justice.

The following are few points that should be taken into consideration: 

•             The state’s failure to impose its authority upon the country while persisting in supporting armed groupings that cost billions though actual revolutionists are well known and do exceed 30,000 in number. Concerned authorities have not yet revealed the actual number of the revolution’s martyrs, injured and missing.

•             Persistence of centralism, where Gaddafi’s remnants are able to reproduce themselves under the February 17 revolutionary slogans, whereas the isolation law targeted some of those who challenged Gaddafi and greatly served the revolution.

•             The state’s failure to prove its real intention to terminate centralism and its hesitation, regarding the endorsement and implementation of an effective federal system.

•             Inequality against various areas where political and filed practices of some areas are ignored while others are incriminated and threatened through official media, as is the case with those supporting federalism and calling for their rights.

•             Granting legitimacy to armed groupings and thus enabling them to violate laws conducting judicial authority by which they arrest, convict and publicly insult people.

•             The state’s failure to address the environmental catastrophes as in the Green Mountain and Meslatah.

•             Excessive consumptive expenditure without conducting investigations about potential corruption, since the National Transitional Council and the Executive Office should by now, include expenditures on individuals, institutions, military and security forces, grants and premiums. Additionally, political, military and security officers should be required to declare their assets.

•             The systematic slowness of the General National Congress in achieving their missions and the people’s decreased trust in finalizing the Constitution.

•             The state’s ignorance of illegal practices committed by some groups, like those intervening in the educational process and imposing certain social types.

•             The state’s failure to inactivate and purify the judiciary system, which is required for achieving justice and equality.

•             Unavailability of a regulating law for media and artistic classifications that accounts the media for any violation against the people’s rights and appoints the media as a fourth authority. 

•             The state’s failure to control some religious platforms that are exploited by extremists to enhance notions that do not fit the moderate Libyan society.

Settling the above mentioned points is a prerequisite for the national compromise to be real. I believe that the federal option is sensationally national and is not of a separatist nature if not accompanied by provocation and accusations, as partnership needs inclusion of all parties.

I have to tell the federalists that the big challenge ahead of you is to prove the righteousness of your calls through a referendum whose results grant you the right of representing Cyrenaica’s people.

Commitment to Libya’s unity is binding and it is to be maintained whether by dialogue or conflict. Until then, wailing voices may refer to ‘Libya TV’ as it has always been the destination of ‘wailers’.