On 8 June, nine Libyan municipalities from the central region gathered in Bani Walid and declared the birth of the Central Region Province (CRP), framed as a ‘fourth region’ which would sit alongside the existing administrative provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. The municipalities of Misrata, Tarhouna, Bani Walid, Khoms, Zliten, Emsslata, El-Mardoum, Qasr Khiyar and Tenenai agreed in the statement that good governance and equal development opportunity is the cornerstone to building a modern country, reiterating the historic administrative and social ties that bind the central region cities and towns.
The statement presents the CRP as a developmental integration and an administrative framework that represents the will of its own citizens and towns. It said this initiative does not seek to establish a parallel entity to the state, or form quasi-institutions, but rather strengthen administrative decentralization and geographic justice.
Later the same evening, protestors in Bani Walid and Tarhouna blocked off access to the municipal council buildings in their towns in protest at their inclusion in the CRP, erecting sand barriers and welding shut the main entrances. Many of the protestors belonged to the Werfella tribe.