Ansamed

(ANSAmed) - TAORMINA, OCTOBER 7 - Prince Idris al-Senussi, nephew of the last Libyan King Idris, has the right to lay claim to a political role in post-Gaddafi Libya, but is still the representative of a Cyrenaica potentate and not the entire country. This was the comment by Italy's Foreign Undersecretary Alfredo Mantica on today's statements by the prince in Taormina.

Mantica spoke on the fringes of the Taormina Forum on Africa and Europe organised by the Banco di Sicilia Foundation and Studio Ambrosetti. Not long before in the same location Idris had said that he did not want to return to the monarchy, but to claim an important role for his family in the building of the new Libya. ''Idris is a Senussi from Cyrenaica, nephew of a Senussi king,'' Mantica said. ''He is an expression of that land, of the Senussi order which was the opposition to the Italians. He represents the world of Benghazi. I find his aspirations legitimate, but I was expecting him to say more on the difficulty of forming a government for the National Transitional Council.'' In Mantica's eyes ''Benghazi inhabitants (who began the revolt against Gaddafi, Ed.) do not know what to do. They can't seem to reach an agreement with those from Tripoli, with Berbers, with those from Misurata. Not to mention the tribes who still back Gaddafi: the Qaddafa, the Warfalla, the Tuareg. One third of Libya is still in the hands of loyalists.'' According to the undersecretary, Sarkozy and Cameron also made a political mistake in their trip to Libya, underestimating these divisions. ''They went there to celebrate with the victors, But who are the victors? Those from Benghazi, the Berbers, but not those from Tripoli. This division is what Libyans must now get past.'' (ANSAmed).