A cartoon depicting late former leader of Libya Muammar Gaddafi is seen on the remains of a memorial to late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in downtown Benghazi 12 February 2012. (Photo: REUTERS - Esam Al-Fetori)
Misrata – While residents of this western town were commemorating the anniversary of the first victory by local rebels against the forces of the ousted Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, a press conference was being held in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday. Calling for a reversion to a federal system of government in Libya, it proclaimed the establishment of the Council of Cyrenaica.
The council addressed an eight-point statement to residents of the region – which covers roughly the eastern third of Libya’s territory.
In addition to calling for federalism, the participants named Ahmed Zubair al-Senoussi – a member of the National Transitional Council (NTC), and a long-serving political prisoner under Gaddafi – as regional president. The participants said they were adopting Libya’s 1951 constitution and rejected the NTC’s post-Gaddafi constitutional declaration, distribution of parliamentary seats, and election law.
The declaration of a federal autonomous region in the east prompted small-scale demonstrations in several towns within it – including Tobruk, Derna, Bayda, and Ajdabiya as well as Benghazi itself – against what protesters saw as a first step toward dismembering Libya.
The planned proclamation was not taken seriously by many Libyans when it was first reported by a satellite channel two weeks ago. Some thought the news was fabricated, or was being overblown by the media.
But the days that preceded the press conference witnessed a sharp rise in calls for federalism.
Some argue that only a federal system of government can address the marginalization which eastern Libya suffered under centralized rule from Tripoli. But others, especially in the west, fiercely reject federalism and see it as a recipe for the breakup of the country. They also fear it will place the bulk of the country’s oil resources under the control of the eastern province, rather than being the sovereign property of all Libyans.
In response to this development, NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil reminded Libyans of their ancestors’ struggle to preserve the country’s unity and warned against the dangers posed by the former regime’s legacy.
He described the formation of the Council of Cyrenaica as a dangerous precedent, a threat to national unity, and part of a conspiracy against Libya and the Libyan people. Abdel Jalil held several parties responsible for the developments in Benghazi, including neighboring Arab countries he said were standing behind, supporting, and funding the council.
He urged all Libyans to stand by the NTC to build a state that would do away with centralized control.
Many Libyans have made their opinions of the Cyrenaica proclamation known.
“Calling for federalism at the this time might push things in the direction of partition. We might hear similar demands voiced by other groups and regions,” said journalist Abdallah al-Kabir, adding, “Even hard-line groups within the Tabu tribe [recently involved in clashes in the remote far southeast of the country] might hold a conference and make similar recommendations.”
Al-Kabir said he thought growing calls for federalism were partly a result of the control exerted over the capital by militias from Zintan and Misrata. Libyans elsewhere may feel that their excessive influence might deny other regions their fair share of access to national resources.
“The participants in the Cyrenaica conference do not have the right to determine Libya’s political system on their own,” Al-Kabir added. The issue should be settled through a referendum, in which “the people of the region would participate in order to decide the legitimacy or illegitimacy of this call for a federal system.”
The Mufti of Libya, Sheikh Sadeq al-Gharyani, warned that federalism was “the beginning of partition,” adding: “partition inevitably leads to discord and opens the door to conflict over many issues, such as natural resources. This is what the enemies want.”
Nevertheless, some Libyans are unworried. Writer and activist al-Habib al-Amin said the Benghazi declaration “only represents those who wrote it,” who were trying to serve their own purposes and would not be heeded by the public. “They are a minority seeking to reposition themselves and to play a role after the revolution, because they supported the old regime and are thieves of public money," he said.
He said such people were playing the regional card because they were afraid of being excluded from public life, adding that it was “normal” after a revolutionary war for such forces to try to reassert their influence. But he was confident the revolution would “sweep away these washed-up figures along with the remnants and agents of the former regime.”
Journalist and political activist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi argued that Libya’s present problems are largely caused by the absence of Tripoli from the scene.
“Tripoli has not played its role as a capital and has been entirely absent from the revolution. It did not rebel against its administration which is the state’s administration, and did not renounce its evils as other less important Libyan cities did,” he said.
“Tripoli did not live through the revolution as it should, and its rebels did not play the role assigned to them. They took on publicity and security matters, while corrupt groups who are in charge of the state wreaked havoc in various institutions and ministries after forming lobbies that turned ministries into nests of corruption,” al-Baghdadi added.
Nevertheless, al-Baghdadi was scathing about those advocating secession under the guise of federalism, and especially the authors of the “shameful and provocative” declaration made from Benghazi.
“Those people are bargaining for gains. They will either be granted these gains, or they will break up the country. It’s an ‘after me the deluge’ mentality,” he said.
But he was confident they were doomed to failure. “They are a handful of people who do not represent Libyan public opinion, not even in Benghazi itself. A few hundred people declaring federalism! What a joke,” al-Baghdadi remarked.
He finished by saying, “I am certain of the failure of the project. But what bothered me is Senoussi, who proved that he is less than ordinary, after we had thought that he was an exceptional man.”
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
The council addressed an eight-point statement to residents of the region – which covers roughly the eastern third of Libya’s territory.
In addition to calling for federalism, the participants named Ahmed Zubair al-Senoussi – a member of the National Transitional Council (NTC), and a long-serving political prisoner under Gaddafi – as regional president. The participants said they were adopting Libya’s 1951 constitution and rejected the NTC’s post-Gaddafi constitutional declaration, distribution of parliamentary seats, and election law.
The declaration of a federal autonomous region in the east prompted small-scale demonstrations in several towns within it – including Tobruk, Derna, Bayda, and Ajdabiya as well as Benghazi itself – against what protesters saw as a first step toward dismembering Libya.
The planned proclamation was not taken seriously by many Libyans when it was first reported by a satellite channel two weeks ago. Some thought the news was fabricated, or was being overblown by the media.
But the days that preceded the press conference witnessed a sharp rise in calls for federalism.
Some argue that only a federal system of government can address the marginalization which eastern Libya suffered under centralized rule from Tripoli. But others, especially in the west, fiercely reject federalism and see it as a recipe for the breakup of the country. They also fear it will place the bulk of the country’s oil resources under the control of the eastern province, rather than being the sovereign property of all Libyans.
In response to this development, NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil reminded Libyans of their ancestors’ struggle to preserve the country’s unity and warned against the dangers posed by the former regime’s legacy.
He described the formation of the Council of Cyrenaica as a dangerous precedent, a threat to national unity, and part of a conspiracy against Libya and the Libyan people. Abdel Jalil held several parties responsible for the developments in Benghazi, including neighboring Arab countries he said were standing behind, supporting, and funding the council.
He urged all Libyans to stand by the NTC to build a state that would do away with centralized control.
Many Libyans have made their opinions of the Cyrenaica proclamation known.
“Calling for federalism at the this time might push things in the direction of partition. We might hear similar demands voiced by other groups and regions,” said journalist Abdallah al-Kabir, adding, “Even hard-line groups within the Tabu tribe [recently involved in clashes in the remote far southeast of the country] might hold a conference and make similar recommendations.”
Al-Kabir said he thought growing calls for federalism were partly a result of the control exerted over the capital by militias from Zintan and Misrata. Libyans elsewhere may feel that their excessive influence might deny other regions their fair share of access to national resources.
“The participants in the Cyrenaica conference do not have the right to determine Libya’s political system on their own,” Al-Kabir added. The issue should be settled through a referendum, in which “the people of the region would participate in order to decide the legitimacy or illegitimacy of this call for a federal system.”
The Mufti of Libya, Sheikh Sadeq al-Gharyani, warned that federalism was “the beginning of partition,” adding: “partition inevitably leads to discord and opens the door to conflict over many issues, such as natural resources. This is what the enemies want.”
Nevertheless, some Libyans are unworried. Writer and activist al-Habib al-Amin said the Benghazi declaration “only represents those who wrote it,” who were trying to serve their own purposes and would not be heeded by the public. “They are a minority seeking to reposition themselves and to play a role after the revolution, because they supported the old regime and are thieves of public money," he said.
He said such people were playing the regional card because they were afraid of being excluded from public life, adding that it was “normal” after a revolutionary war for such forces to try to reassert their influence. But he was confident the revolution would “sweep away these washed-up figures along with the remnants and agents of the former regime.”
Journalist and political activist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi argued that Libya’s present problems are largely caused by the absence of Tripoli from the scene.
“Tripoli has not played its role as a capital and has been entirely absent from the revolution. It did not rebel against its administration which is the state’s administration, and did not renounce its evils as other less important Libyan cities did,” he said.
“Tripoli did not live through the revolution as it should, and its rebels did not play the role assigned to them. They took on publicity and security matters, while corrupt groups who are in charge of the state wreaked havoc in various institutions and ministries after forming lobbies that turned ministries into nests of corruption,” al-Baghdadi added.
Nevertheless, al-Baghdadi was scathing about those advocating secession under the guise of federalism, and especially the authors of the “shameful and provocative” declaration made from Benghazi.
“Those people are bargaining for gains. They will either be granted these gains, or they will break up the country. It’s an ‘after me the deluge’ mentality,” he said.
But he was confident they were doomed to failure. “They are a handful of people who do not represent Libyan public opinion, not even in Benghazi itself. A few hundred people declaring federalism! What a joke,” al-Baghdadi remarked.
He finished by saying, “I am certain of the failure of the project. But what bothered me is Senoussi, who proved that he is less than ordinary, after we had thought that he was an exceptional man.”
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
Uprooted Palestinian 
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