Libyans set strict rules for restructuring army

Officers participating in the first round of the First Public Conference of the National Army of Libya, reiterated the importance of separating specialisations in the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and strict determination of army commanders in a manner that separates the MoD from the Chief of Staff position. The conference was held from November 20 - 24. Certain criteria were set for choosing the Army commanders including potential military commanders not include those who resisted the February 17 revolution, or former members of Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Candidates who have been accused of torturing of Libyan citizens or faced allegationss of corruption are to be ineligible. A military commander is also required to be a genuine citizen and not married to a non-Libyan woman. "The national army is to be restructured and the meeting discussed setting clear and fair criteria upon which the commanders will be selected, including efficiency and skills,” said Colonel Kamal Abu Bakr, head of the Preparation Committee of the Conference. "There is a necessity to include the revolutionary fighters among the lines of the army based on their contribution in liberating Libya and the skills and capabilities they have, which will bring about constituting a national army that only considers Allah as its only reference and abide itself to serve the Libyans not their rulers," he added. The committee apologised to regions that have no representatives in the conference reiterating that whatever represnetatives were present represented Libya as a whole and would work on matters of public interest regarding the army and military affairs of the country. Th meeting was almost uniformly succesful in its deliberations, with junior and senior officers holding the belief that Libyan Army would be restructured through a specialised technical committee determined to serve the public interest. The conference also recommended renaming the Libyan Army as the Military Institution. The revolutionary youth was tipped to join the army on basis of the same criteria applied at military academies of the armed forces in Libya. Attendees also reached an agreement on the importance of improving all sectors of the army; pedestrian, air and marine.