Libyan PM says internally displaced people will return home in Feb.

TRIPOLI, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj on Tuesday said that displaced Libyans from Tawergha city, some 240 km east of the capital Tripoli, will return home in February, 2018.

The internally displaced residents, who allied with the forces of the toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi during the 2011 uprising and fled their homes, will begin returning from next Feb. 1, announced Serraj, saying that necessary budget is to be allocated for compensations.

Serraj added that the move is "part of efforts to achieve national reconciliation and to lay the foundations for building a state of law and institutions."

"I also issued instructions for the country's security and services agencies to create necessary security conditions and provide basic needs for their safe and honorable return to their city," the statement added.

The decision came after a protest organized by hundreds of Tawerghans since Saturday, demanding returning to their city and implementing the reconciliation agreement signed in 2016 that allows their return.

During the 2011 uprising, some residents of Tawergha allied with the forces of Gaddafi against the rebels of the nearby city of Misurata. After Gaddafi's regime was toppled, those residents, accused by Misurata of actively participating in the fighting against them, fled their homes to others cities in Libya. Since then, they have been internally displaced.

In August 2016, representatives of Tawergha and Misurata cities signed a UN-sponsored draft reconciliation agreement to allow Tawerghan refugees to return home. Enditem