Junblatt visits Benghazi and meets with NTC’s Jalil

Walid Junblatt, President of the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party, spent several hours in Libya on Tuesday as a guest of  the NTC. Junblatt's visit marks the first official Lebanese visit since the fall of Gaddafi. Also accompanying Junblatt were the Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs, Wael Abou Faour, a member of the Progressive Socialist Party and owner of one of the biggest oil companies in Lebanon, Bahij Abu Hamzeh, and Duraid Yaghi. The delegation was greeted by the NTC head of Foreign Affairs, Fathi Bahji, the NTC Chair, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the NTC Vice-Chair, Abdul Hafiz Ghorga, as well as a number of other NTC members. According to a statement released by the Progressive Socialist Party, Junblatt congratulated the NTC on behalf of his party and Lebanese people, after “years of darkness and finally getting democracy." Junblatt expressed his solidarity with the "political prisoners and relatives of the missing," and offered his condolences to the families of the Libyans who died during the revolution and under Gaddafi's reign, including the victims of the 1996 Abu Salim prison massacre. Junblatt hoped that the new Libya would be characterised by stability, security, democracy and reconstruction, all of which he considers to be great challenges faced by Libyan people. Junblatt and his delegation visited Tahrir Square in Benghazi where they met a number of the rebels and also visited the former-Central Security prison was where political arrests took place. The Abu Salim prison massacre was addressed. Junblatt and the NTC also discussed developments in Libya and the region, and their plans for the future. Libya praised Lebanon's role in the Arab League and the UN Security Council, and as a pioneer in supporting the Libyan revolution. Junblatt addressed the disappearance of the Chairman of the Lebanon Higher Islamic Shia Council, Imam Moussa as-Sadr, and his two colleagues, Sheikh Mohamed Yaqub and journalist Abbas Badreddine during a trip to Libya in 1978. The Gaddafi regime is widely considered responsible for their disappearence. He claimed that, “Libyan authorities will not delay in investigating this case after security and stability has been restored in other parts of Libya.”   However, Junblatt's visit did not receive overwhelming support in Lebanon, and was highly criticised by the Friends of Imam Moussa as-Sadr and the son of Sheikh Mohammed Yaqub, Lebanese MP Hassan Yaqub. “Some Lebanese officials are used to opening national issues at their own expense,  but we do not accept the case of the Imam and his two brothers to be one of them. We are unsure of who authorised Junblatt to travel to Libya, but it shows little regard for the feelings of the families of missing persons. The person responsible for this crime is not Muammar Gaddafi alone." He demanded that the Lebanese President Suleiman work seriously towards resolving this issue and facilitating the release of the three missing.