Tripoli was the elephant that was very much not in the room when 24 municipal councils today signed up for the Government of National Accord at a Tunis ceremony hosted by UNSMIL chief Martin Kobler.
His predecessor, Bernardino Leon had always placed much emphasis on the municipalities, which besides the House of Representatives constitute the only properly-elected officials in the country.
Kobler echoed this when he said today “Municipalities have a key role to play. They are where the hospitals are, where the schools are. That is why I tell the mayors to go back to their municipalities and to tell their people to support the agreement in order to have electricity, to have water and functioning hospitals and schools”.
Saying how happy he was at the support of these local councils, Kobler did not appear discouraged that Tripoli, where the new government is supposed to be located, is still holding out against the Political Accord and the Faiez Serraj administration that is being built upon it.
He also accepted that the councillor representing strife-torn Kufra was a Tebu. No one from the rival Zway community had travelled to the Tunisian capital. Yet Kobler said that he hoped that the political agreement would bring peace in the area.
By Libya Herald reporters.
