Libya: No weapon control until army is fully organised

Libya’s Interior Minister has said his government plans to uphold and respect all human rights Libya’s Interior Minister, Fawzy Abdel Aal, has said the interim government does not plan to collect weapons from revolutionary fighters until an army is organised and able to assume power .
Abdel Aal was talking to Al Arabiya about a disarmament plan for which the government has been discussing methods of collecting light and heavy weapons.
He also said the majority of the rebels are linked to organised military councils, adding that the level of crime has decreased, despite the distribution of millions of weapons to the rebels.
“We can enforce security but we do not want to shed more Libyan blood. We have in place security committees in Tripoli as well as other brigades in several cities [to maintain law and order],” he said.
Libya's opposition is splintering with militias that once fought along side each other but are now at loggerheads.
After a civil war that saw arms being put in many citizens’ hands, the new Libyan government has to disarm the population, which is seen as an increasingly difficult task.
While Libyans celebrate the fight that led to the end of Muammar Gadaffi, the guns used to oust him are a worrying sign for the future.
Hundreds of thousands of guns were handed out to anti-Gaddafi fighters. Now these same guns are quickly becoming public enemy number one in post-revolution Libya.
Brigade Captain Abed Al-Majid heads up one of the numerous task forces created to get guns out of civilian hands.
“We have to confiscate those guns and interrogate their owners a little to see where they got them, what they will do with them and why they haven’t given them up,” Al-Majid said.
Some people do have government-issued gun permits, but most do not. There are two main reasons people won’t give up their weapons. Some say that Libya is just not secure enough yet to remain unarmed.
Others, mostly former fighters, refuse to give up their guns as a matter of principal rather than pragmatism.
Ahmed Suleiman and some friends have an arsenal stashed in Suleiman’s home. As they cleaned their guns, Suleiman explained that after what they sacrificed to defeat Gaddafi, being asked to disarm is a slap in the face.
“Disarming us shouldn’t be done,” Suleiman said. “We were prepared to die to save others and now the government is treating us as if there is no difference between us and regular citizens. We should get to keep our guns."
Suleiman said Libya is not stable enough for total disarmament – many armed Gaddafi loyalists remain, and must be fought if they rise up.
Because of the heavy weapons – and the possibility they might be sold to the more unsavory elements in the region – lots of countries are helping the NTC secure the big guns.
But for smaller weapons, the NTC and its various groups are on their own.
“Our staff is going around neighborhoods, talking about this, educating people regarding guns and the dangers of having guns at home and all this stuff so it’s working. It’s working,” said Jamal Faraj, who heads up the Tripoli Revolutionary Council’s gun control team.
Faraj and his team collected over a thousand arms – AK-47s and handguns mostly – in a recent two-week period. All of this is a drop in the ocean at this point.
The interior minister meanwhile also spoke about the influx of new refugees into the country, saying: “The refugees have been lodged in places reserved for illegal immigrants,” but said they were being treated in accordance to international humanitarian treaties, a vow his government plans to uphold.
He also said that the Libyan border was secure and “under Libyan control.”
He added: “Libya will make positive contributions in preventing illegal immigration.”
On escape attempts by prisoners in Jadida, he said his ministry was handling the situation.
“There are 16,000 criminals who were released in Tripoli and some of them are engaged in irresponsible acts …
“There is a need for new legislation that protects freedom and democratic rights in the new Libya,” he said.