TRIPOLI — Prime Minister Ali Zidan took part in a ceremony Monday at which a militia unit, the Brigade of Free Libyans, was dissolved and its assets and belongings handed over the authorities. The brigade commander, Essam Qatus, said that the unit had been wound up as a step to rebuilding Libya as a state of law with normal institutions. Some men, he said, would join the Interior Ministry and others the General Intelligence Department. “With the passing of the Political Isolation Law, there are now no worries about the 17 February Revolution,” Qatus added. He said that Libyans needed now be armed with education in its all fields to face the current challenges and achieve what the martyrs had died for. ”Dismissing the Free Libyans Brigade does not mean we will not participate in rebuilding Libya in a timely manner,” he said. A weapon was ceremonially handed over by Qatus to the prime minister who called the ceremony a significant event given the widespread availability of weapons and the resultant insecurity. He called on Libyans to embrace each other and cooperate with the government and Congress in order to ensure security and provide the prosperity and freedom which had been the aim of the martyrs. Last week, the prime minister confirmed that there should be dialogue between the revolutionaries and the government. The hand-over ceremony was also attended by the Congress's deputy president Salah Makhzoum, a number of Congress members, diplomats and some of the wounded and martyrs' families. — Libya Herald
