Over 90 Libyan municipalities and local authorities have issued a joint declaration calling for unity, sovereignty and decentralization in Libya, explaining that this step would be a means to end the conflict and save the country.
The declaration was issued on December 08 following a three-day meeting in Tunisia for the mayors of almost every municipality and local authority in Libya, a press release by the organizers of the meeting says.
According to the release, the aim of the declaration the mayors and local authorities’ officials had signed was finding venues to better address the dire and urgent needs of the Libyan people.
The municipalities’ declaration explained that they were keen on reaching a sustainable solution to the Libyan conflicts, underlining the fact that all municipalities and local authorities must be included in all future efforts to resolve the crisis.
“The municipalities and local authorities must be allowed more authorities as a way to achieving stability in Libya so they can have more power to partake in ending the current crisis.” The declaration says.
It further added that the work done by local authorities to provide basic services to citizens, such as security, was very vital in a time when several “competing national governments” have failed to do so.
“We demand that local authorities receive better support in their endeavors to find a way out of the country’s crisis.” The mayors explained in the declaration.
They further called for full implementation of existing legislation and for immediate release of all pending budgets.
“We are committed to exert all the needed efforts to hold elections before the end of our mandates,” The mayors pledged, knowing that many of them will have their mandates expired as early as 2018, according to the press release.
They also added that the Libyan municipal councils are on the frontline of the current conflict. Adding that they are struggling to provide basic services to the citizens with the limited resources, capabilities and the many restrictions they suffer every day.
Municipalities need to be reinforced practically and legally at this critical stage of the Libyan crisis, the declaration adds, saying they are among the key institutions that can help Libya through this transition period, and could be an important element of a united and strong sovereign state.
The Tunis-hosted meeting was held at the initiative of a variety of Libyan mayors from across the country, with the support of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD).
