Libya's constitution panel to hold first meeting

Libya's constitution-drafting panel will hold its first meeting on Monday in the Eastern province of Al-Bayda' in the absence of 13 out of 60 members. At Monday's meeting, both the head of the panel and his or her deputy will be selected, according to panel member Mohamed al-Tomi. Al-Tomi told Anadolu Agency that, at Monday's first session, members would also hash out basic rules for regulating the panel's work. The panel is tasked with drafting a new constitution within 18 months of its first meeting. A special hall has been built in the Eastern Al-Bayda' province in which panel members will conduct their meetings. Absent from Monday's first meeting will be 13 panel members who have not yet been elected, due either to a boycott of the panel by certain segments of Libyan society or because of recent security turbulence. The Berber and Tuareg people, for example, two Libyan nomadic minorities, boycotted February 20 panel elections, accusing Libya's interim parliament of failing to enact legislation safeguarding their cultural rights.