A Libyan man hands over his gun to army officers during a ceremony in Tripoli, Libya, yesterday. Libyans began handing over their weapons as the government launched an initiative in the north African country to curb arms proliferation.
TRIPOLI: Hundreds of Libyans turned over their weapons at collection points in the capital and the eastern city of Benghazi yesterday following rallies which called for disarmament and the disbanding of militias.
Organisers in Tripoli and Benghazi will raffle off prizes, including two cars, at the end of the collection. They said the process was not a one-off event and would be repeated to include other cities.
A steady trickle of men surrendered their weapons to national army troops stationed in Tripoli’s Martyrs Square and in Benghazi’s Freedom Square, journalists reported.
“We are astonished by the positive turnout,” said Colonel Hussein Abdullah Khalifa in Tripoli, adding that the initiative was galvanised by anti-militia rallies pressing for a united army held in Libya’s two largest cities this month.
Tripoli campaign organiser Ziad Hadia said that “more than 100 people had turned in light, medium and heavy weapons as well as ammunition ranging from bullets to tank shells” in the first half of the day.
“We also received three heat-seeking missiles,” he added, while one person had come forward with a tank which is to be delivered to the army later at an undisclosed location.
In Benghazi, the army tallied more than 200 weapons, a journalist said.
Those numbers represent just a tiny fraction of the arms that spilled out of the arsenals of toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi but it was seen as a step forward in a country where many cling to their weapons citing insecurity.
“To achieve security we must take the first step ourselves,” said Mustafa Abu Hmeid, a 23-year-old mechanic clutching a rifle, a treasured spoil of the 2011 conflict which ended in Gaddafi’s ouster and death.
AFP
