More than a year and a half have passed since the defeat of Haftar’s militias from the western region, and hundreds of families of victims of mass graves in Tarhuna are still waiting to know the fate of their children amid the delay and neglect of the concerned authorities in the state, as the number of bodies exhumed in the “5 km” project has reached In Tarhuna, 45 bodies from 15 mass graves, not to mention the 144 bodies from Alrabit Project.
obvious disregard
The head of the Tarhuna Victims Association, Abdul Hakim Abu Naama, said in a statement to Arraed that the Authority for the Search and Identification of Missing Persons has been suspended for 10 days; Because their salaries have not been paid for more than 6 months, noting that there have been several reports about new mass grave sites.
Abu Naama added that the government has clearly ignored the file of mass graves and their victims, and we do not know the reason for this neglect. He pointed out that the Authority suffers from a lack of necessary capabilities and equipment, and the government’s lack of support for it. They also addressed more than once the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior, to look into the case, but no response.
Reports of new grave yards
For his part, the head of the management Council of Tarhuna Municipality, Mohammed Al-Kisher, said in a statement to Arraed that there are about 15 reports of new mass grave sites, pointing out that the government is dealing with the Tarhuna file inactively, calling on it to move quickly.
Al-Kisher indicated that the ministerial committee formed by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbaiba to follow up on the issue of mass graves in Tarhuna and the service sector in the city completed its work, and handed over all the information to the government, but unfortunately the prime minister has not yet taken an interest in the matter.
Promises and inactivity
For his part, a member of the House of Representatives from the city of Tarhuna, Abubaker Saeed, confirmed the government’s slowness towards the file of mass graves in the city, adding that there are promises from the government and the Attorney General’s office to move and look into this file, noting that a meeting will be held next week with the government, to discuss several files, the most important of which are mass graves, and the poor services in the city.
Demands for Support
In an interview with Arraed, the head of the General Authority for Searching and Identifying the Missing, Kamal Al-Siwi, called on the government to support the authority to ensure the continuity of its work, as they have conducted, so far, 1,400 DNA analyzes of the families of Tarhuna victims.
Al-Siwi explained that they identified 56 bodies, 80% of which belong to the people of Tarhuna, and that there are more than 14,000 blood samples that we need to analyze genetically, and they need money.
The accused of these mass graves are still free in the eastern region, headed by Abdul Rahim Al-Kani, the first person responsible for the massacres, accompanied by more than 300 members of the “Al-Kani militia” known as the Ninth Brigade, against whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the Attorney General since last June. Will we see actions from the government towards this sensitive file?
