The Libyan Minister of Displaced People’s Affairs, Yousif Jalal, told Libyan local media Thursday that the return of the displaced community of Tawergha to their city, which is set today (February 01), has been put off until issues of dispute with Misrata are resolved.

Likewise, Misrata municipality called on the Presidential Council early on Thursday to immediately block the return routes of the Tawergha IDPs and delay the implementation of the Tawergha-Misrata agreement.

“Some parties want to escalate the situation and violate the articles of the agreement and this could lead to weak security and services’ preparations, leaving the PC-appointed committee in a position where it wuld be unable to monitor the execution of the deal and the return.” The municipality said on Facebook.

In the meantime, February 17 Revolution’s Martyrs and Missing Association and Misrata elders and military councils rejected Wednesday in a joint statement the return of the Tawergha population to their city, which they were forced to leave seven years ago, conditioning the return to the implementation of all the agreement’s articles, blaming the PC for the wrong tackling of the Misrata-Tawergha issue and for violating the agreement signed by the two cities’ committees.

“Tawerghans shall come back if justice, comprehensive reconciliation and turning in of fugitives had been done in advance, besides rebuilding the destructed neighborhoods and compensations to all parties.” The tenth article of the agreement says, the statement outlined.

The Head of the PC, Fayez Al-Sirraj, announced the return of Tawergha IDPs to their city over a month ago and set February 01 as the kickoff of the comeback, forming a committee to pave the way for the return as per the agreement between Misrata and Tawergha, however; the work of the committee working on the return was criticized for focusing on logistics and other matters more than focusing on legal and humanitarian issues.