TRIPOLI — The government and the General National Congress held a joint emergency meeting Saturday evening on the security situation in southern Libya.The meeting, under the umbrella of the National Security Council, was attended by Prime Minister Ali Zidan and the president of Congress, Mohamed Magarief, as well as Defense Minister Mohamed Barghati, Interior Minister Ashour Shuwail, Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yousef Mangoush and intelligence chief Salem Hassi. Also at the meeting were the deputy president of Congress, Saleh Al-Makhzoum, and the chairmen of Congress' national security, defense and interior committees. The discussions, in Magarief's offices, followed Friday dawn attack on Sebha's main police station in which three police officers were killed. It was the second deadly assault on the security forces in Sebha in a fortnight. According to Makhzoum, the meeting looked at the support needed in Sebha to put an end to the attacks. The prime minister was quoted by the Libyan news agency LANA saying that the government was determined to see its authority fully established in the south. He added that a comprehensive plan would be also drawn up covering all aspects of the region's reconstruction, development and security as well as the security of the border. The meeting also discussed security in Libya generally. One police source suggested that the assailants were from the Khamis Brigade, one of the Muammar Gaddafi regime's most brutal units during the revolution. Meanwhile, it has been announced by the office of Sebha Governor Ramadan Barasi that the Zawia Martyrs' Military Battalion based in the town managed to find two of the vehicles stolen in the attack on the police headquarters. Barasi told Libya Alwataneya that the force under his command had insufficient equipment and only 600 men, when an establishment of 5,000 was the minimum to secure the border. “We were told we were exaggerating when we said this,” he commented, “Now, after this incident, I hope they will understand the situation” Barasi also pointed out that soldiers and police from the north of the country were reluctant to serve in the south, not least because the posting attracted no additional benefits not grants. — Libya Herald
