This week has seen another senior figure from the judiciary targeted and killed in Derna. On 9 November, the General Prosecutor for the Jebel Akhdar region, Mohamed Al-Naas, was killed when a bomb exploded under his car.
The killing is reflective of the gaping security vacuum that has opened up in the town. According to one Libyan journalist who travelled to Derna recently, “There is no police, no security directorate, not even a security chamber in Derna. All policemen are sitting at home because of the threat to them by Islamists.” This corroborates the recent assertion by Derna Congressman Abdulfatah Shalwi that the town does not even have a functioning local council or security directorate.
The situation is so bad that, according to one Derna resident, the town is “divided between Islamists, gangs, weapons smugglers, drugs mafias and ordinary people”.
For more news and expert analysis about Libya, please see Libya Focus and Libya Politics & Security.
© 2013 Menas Associates
No comments:
Post a Comment