On
Libya,
UN's Martin
Admits
Disenfranchised
Fight in
Kufra,
Militias
as Challenge
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 9 -- Amid
a love fest
for Libya's
elections
there are
some
discordant
notes. A
helicopter
with election
material was
shot
down over
Benghazi,
where four
polling
stations were
shut.
Observers
never made it
to parts of
the south, due
to security
concerns. And
the
key next step
on the
constitution
was removed,
to some
degree, from
the election,
with seats set
aside by
region.
Inner
City
Press on
Monday asked
UN envoy Ian
Martin about
this topics,
specifically
of groups
disproportionately
disenfranchised,
how far
"federalism"
will go and
the continuing
presence of
armed militias
now long after
the extra
judicial
execution of
Gaddafi.
Martin
acknowledged
that a
disenfranchisement
dispute led
many in Kufra,
for example,
not
to proceed to
polling there.
On
federalism,
he argued that
since Libya
had such a
constitution
from
1951 to 1963,
it is not
surprising
that it is
desired again.
He
called the
question of
militias a
"somewhat
different
question."
But isn't the
goal of some
of the still
armed groups
to assert
independence
from the
government in
Tripoli?
Martin
called
this the
"biggest
single
challenge"
going forward.
And what is
the plan to
deal with it?
Watch this
site.
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