Michel Cousins

TRIPOLI — Foreign NGOs operating in Sirte have pulled out after being told to leave the town by the town’s military council. Although issued by the military council, the order is said to have come from the Ministry of Interior.



On Monday NGOs say that have been told to provide details of their operations and until they do they had to suspend them.



There have been only a handful of foreign NGOs working in Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown which he expanded and named as Libya’s capital after he fled Tripoli last August. Most of them are involved in demining operations. As a result of the order, MAG (Mining Advisory Group), Danish Demining Group, FSD (Swiss Foundation for Mine Action) as well as UK-based and Handicap International have left the town according to a demining coordinator.



However, he said that discussions with the military council and other Libyan officials were due to take place Tuesday to resolve the issue and so enable the organizations back into Sirte.



“The situation is very tricky” said another foreign NGO official who did not want to be named but confirmed receiving the pullout demand. An official from the Interior Ministry confirmed the order.  However, he said that only “unregistered” foreign NGOs working in Sirte had been told to leave.  He said that because they had not registered, what they were doing was illegal and not in Libya’s interests.  He said that Libya was a state of law and those laws had to be recognized.

Elections postponed to July 7

Libya has announced Monday that elections for a constituent assembly, the country’s first national vote after four decades of dictatorship under toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been postponed to July 7.



The election had originally been slated to be held by June 19.



“The date for the elections will be July 7,” the president of the electoral commission, Nuri Al-Abbar, told a news conference in Tripoli late Sunday, citing “logistical and technical” reasons for the delay. — www.libyaherald.com