Members of Libya's Berber minority cut off a gas pipeline in the western Jebel Nafussa area, local sources said on Monday, to protest their marginalisation in the future constitution, reports Middle East Online.
Youths from Kabu, Al-Galaa, Jadu and Nalout closed the main gas pipeline supplying Al-Ruwais, Zawiya and Misrata (electricity) stations to protest "against the non-inclusion in the constitution of the Amazigh (Berber) language".
The Libyan high national electoral commission fixed October as the limit for the submission of nominations for the constitutional commission, the body charged with drafting a new constitution for the country.
The Berber, Tebou and Tuareg minorities will only be given six seats out of 60, and said in July that they would boycott the election as a protest. They are calling for the inclusion of their languages and cultural and ethnic rights in the country's future constitution.
The Berbers make up about 10 percent of Libya's population. They were persecuted under dictator Moamer Gathafi and continue to feel marginalised under the new regime even though they played a big role in the 2011 uprising that ousted the veteran leader.
At the beginning of July, the Berber withdrew their representatives from the General National Congress, Libya's highest political authority, to protest against marginalisation.
After promising a campaign of civil disobedience to pressure the GNC into meeting their demands, Berbers from Nalout shut off the oil pipeline that supplies the Millitah gas facility.
(Source: Middle East Online)
