The Constitution Drafting Assembly (CCDA) -- the special body to draft a new constitution for Libya -- has started work on Sunday.
Also known as the Constituent Body for the Drafting Of the Constitution (CBDC), the 47 elected committee members gathered in Bayda, east of Benghazi, in the building that housed parliament when the country gained independence in 1951.
According to Reuters, the body was meant to have 60 members drawn equally from all regions, but violence in Derna, an Islamist hotspot in the east, and several southern areas made it impossible to hold elections there; the Amazigh ("Berber") minority also boycotted the committee to demand more rights.
It will have 120 days to draft a constitution though analysts expect the process to take much longer.
(Source: Reuters)
