"ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΤΗΣ"
ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΜΑ Νο
[
02825
]
[
2013.09.29 00:00
]
(AFP) – Nov 25, 2011
TRIPOLI — Dozens of Amazighs -- or Berbers -- protested in
Tripoli's Martyrs Square on Friday for being shut out of the
new government and demanded that their language and rights be
recognised in Libya.
A Berber flag flutters
a top a vehicle for Libyan National Transitional Council fighters
(AFP/File)
"We want our rights and now!" shouted protester Wail Eln
Moammer after the long-awaited Libyan government unveiled earlier
this week failed to include a minister from the minority Amazigh
community.
"We are the indigenous people of Libya. Give us our rights
and we want them now," said Eln Moammer in fluent English as
he held a banner demanding equal rights for Libya's Amazighs.
During the 41 years of Moamer Kadhafi's hardline rule, the
Amazighs -- whose name means "free men" -- were banned from
publicly speaking, writing or printing anything in their own
tongue, tamazight.
The Berbers, who make up some 10 percent of Libya's six million
people, are now angry after this week's cabinet list was absent
of members from their community.
"The thinking that was prevalent in Kadhafi's rule is still
continuing," said another protester Ibrahim Byala, an engineer
residing in Tripoli.
"If we don't show our strength now, we will lose," he told
AFP as behind him a group of fellow Berbers held posters saying
"All Libyans are brothers!", "We hope (for a) great future for
Amazighs!" and "No constitutional legitimacy without Amazighs!."
"Thousands of my brothers have died in the revolution. Our
blood can't go to waste. We will keep protesting," Byala said.
The Berbers were present in Libya before the Arab conquest
in the seventh century and are remembered for their military
resistance to the Italian occupation which ended 60 years ago.
A minority nationwide, the Amazighs form a majority in the
northwestern Nafusa mountains, in Zuwarah region 120 kilometres
(75 miles) west of Tripoli and in Ghadamis province on the frontier
with Algeria.
Active from the start of the revolt against Kadhafi, the
Berbers worked with the Arabs to topple the regime. With the
war over, they now want to contribute and take their place in
Libya's political and cultural life.
On Thursday after the unveiling of the government, the National
Amazigh Congress called on all Libyans, and Berbers in particular,
to end cooperation with the National Transitional Council and
with the interim government.
The appointment as defence minister of Osama Juili, commander
of the fighters who seized Kadhafi's most prominent son Seif
al-Islam last Saturday and who comes from Zintan, a hilltown
in the Nafusa, has also failed to satisfy the aspirations of
the Berber community as Juili is an Arab.
ΠΗΓΗ:
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΜΑΤΑ ΤΟΥ [ΠΑ.ΣΥ.Α.]
"ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΤΗΣ"
ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΜΑ Νο [
02816
] [ 2013.09.21 00:00 ]
"ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΤΗΣ"
ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΜΑ Νο [
01839
] [ 2011.03.14 00:00 ]
"ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΤΗΣ"
ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΜΑ Νο [
01840
] [ 2011.03.15 00:00 ]
"ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΤΗΣ"
ΕΚΤΑΚΤΟ ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΘΕΝ Νο [
00056
] -
[ 2011.06.03 02:00
]
