Tribal violence kills scores in Libya amid government’s helplessness

Libya Shield brigade fails to shield civilians

Πηγή: Middle East Online
By Dominique Soguel
July 1 2012

Renewed tribal clashes in Libyan city of Kufra claim at least 47 lives, leave more than 100 others wounded in three days.

Renewed tribal clashes in the Libyan city of Kufra have claimed at least 47 lives and left more than 100 others wounded in three days, local leaders and a medic said on Saturday.

"Thirty-two have been killed this week in the two Toubou residential areas," a medic treating Toubou casualties in Kufra said.

"The number of wounded exceeds 100. Women and children make up more than half of the injured, with the majority of them hurt by mortar fire," added doctor Taher Wehli.

The medic said his clinic had documented eight deaths on Saturday alone.

Tribal leader Hussein Sake said the shelling against Toubou areas in the desert city was ongoing and unrelenting.

"It is a situation of war with continuous attacks on Toubou neighbourhoods," Sake said. "They keep shelling us, so of course now we hit back to defend ourselves."

Sake blamed the outbreak of violence on rival Zwai tribesmen and their allies, who he said include the Libya Shield brigade, a force deployed by the interim government to act as a buffer between the conflicting camps.

Wissam Ben Hamid, commander of the brigade, insisted his forces were neutral and trying to broker a new truce after clashes broke out late Wednesday.

He said the fighting pitted Toubou tribesmen against Zwai and other tribes.

The commander confirmed the death toll was "high, about 30" and stressed that "negotiations are now underway to calm tensions."

Abdullah Zwai, meanwhile, said his tribe had also suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Toubou, "with 14 people killed in the past two days."

He said Toubou tribesmen on Friday attacked the Libya Shield brigade, killing one member.

In February, tribal clashes in Kufra left more than 100 people dead and displaced half the population, according to UN figures.

Tensions still run high in the region, periodically escalating into deadly skirmishes between the different parties.

Toubou tribesmen in April clashed with Daraa Shield brigade, a unit of the national army that was deployed on February 23.

The latest flareup comes ahead of July 7 elections to vote for a national assembly, the first poll after 42 years of dictatorship under Moamer Gathafi, who was toppled and killed last year.

Kufra, a town of about 40,000, is located in a triangle where the borders of Egypt, Chad and Sudan meet.

The Toubou, who are dark-skinned and present in southeast Libya as well as in Chad, Sudan and Niger, faced discrimination under Gathafi's regime.

They complain of discrimination under the new authorities and some tribal leaders say the Toubou are being targeted in an "ethnic cleansing campaign."

Libya ruler admits impotency

Chairman of the National Transitional Council (C) Abdul Jalil talks to protesters in Benghazi who were wounded in the war in this photo. Jalil admits they have made many mistakes during the transition period.

Πηγή: Daily News
Feb 23 2012

Libya’s leader admits his transitional government, fails to control militias who do not lay down arms and commit to central governments, as more than 100 people are reportedly killed in tribal clashes in past 10 days.

Libya’s leader has admitted that his transitional government is powerless to control militias that are refusing to lay down their arms after ousting Moammar Gadhafi, as fierce clashes between two tribes in Libya’s remote southeastern desert have killed more than 100 people over the past 10 days.

Libya’s leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil also warned that remnants of the former regime still pose a threat, and that it will take years for Libya’s new leaders to overcome the “heavy heritage” of corruption and distrust after more than four decades of Gadhafi’s rule.

“We made many mistakes,” he said. “Democracy and taking votes to make decisions in too many incidents led us to these mistakes,” he said. “My vote as someone who entered the council last year is considered equal to the vote of a member who joined the council this February.” At least 113 people from the Toubu tribe and another 23 from the Zwai tribe have been killed in the town of Kufra since fighting erupted Feb. 12, sources said Feb. 21. “We have been under siege for a week. Since the start of the clashes, 113 people [from our side] have been killed, including six children,” Toubu chief Issa Abdelmajid told AFP by telephone. He said another 241 members of his tribe have been wounded.

Gadhafi loyalists form own militia

Abdul Jalil said the governing National Transitional Council has made mistakes, but he also criticized former rebels who have formed powerful militias and local governments that have emerged as rivals to the Tripoli-based central government. “Both are to blame,” he said. “The governmental program to integrate the militias is slow and the revolutionaries don’t trust it.” Abdul-Jalil also said that Gadhafi loyalists have infiltrated revolutionary forces and even formed their own militia. “We call them the revolutionaries after the revolution.”

Abdul Jalil said the failure to seriously investigate Gadhafi-era war atrocities, as well as the absence of police and courts, has left the door open for individuals to take matters into their own hands. Even families who were not linked to the Gadhafi regime but fled during the war have been tagged as traitors and forced to leave their houses when they returned. “Misrata suffered the most, but it is also going too far in enmity and expulsions,” he said. “Dealing with victorious soldiers is much harder than dealing with the ones defeated.”

Libya is getting ready for national assembly elections in June. The new assembly will form a government and set up a panel to draft a constitution. However, the country has been plagued by revenge attacks by those who suffered at the hands of Gadhafi’s forces during the brutal civil war. At least 23 people from the Zwai tribe have been killed and another 53 wounded in the clashes, said sources from the Zwai.

Tribal rivalries threaten Libya’s fragile peace: New clashes rock desert town

Restless rivalries

Πηγή: Middle East Online
Feb 14 2012

Clashes between Zwai, Toubu tribes in town of Kufra break out for third consecutive day after 17 people were killed.

TRIPOLI - Fresh tribal clashes erupted Tuesday in Libya's remote southeastern desert, with one man saying five members of his clan had been killed, a toll that could not be independently verified.

Clashes between the Zwai and the Toubu tribes in the town of Kufra broke out for a third consecutive day on Tuesday after 17 people were killed in fierce fighting over the first two days.

Turki Tobawi, from the Toubu tribe, said by telephone that five of his comrades had been killed Tuesday, but another member of his clan said there were only injuries reported in the fighting.

Tobawi said his people were surrounded by members of the Zwai tribe.

"We are under siege from all sides. The Zwai tribe is shelling us with heavy weapons," he said.

He charged that Libya's ruling National Transitional Council was backing the Zwai by sending weapons and fighters to their help, which was also confirmed by a source from the Zwai clan.

"The government sent reinforcements to Zwai. Its plan is to exterminate the Toubu tribe," Tobawi said, warning that there was a "massacre happening in which Libyan authorities are participating."

A source from the Zwai tribe said a plane carrying weapons and fighters landed at Kufra airport late Monday to help its members.

Mohammed al-Harizi, spokesman for the NTC, confirmed Tuesday's clashes but said they were of "low intensity and between smugglers helped by foreign elements and thuwar (revolutionaries)."

Fierce clashes between the two tribes on Sunday and Monday left nine Zwai and eight Toubu dead.

Both groups were using light arms when the fighting erupted on Sunday, but the violence intensified, with the two sides firing rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns on Monday, sources said.

The Toubu, who are dark-skinned, were discriminated against even under the regime of slain leader Moamer Gathafi.

The latest clashes apparently erupted after a young man from the Zwai tribe was killed in Kufra by three dark-skinned men believed to be Toubu three days ago, a Zwai source said.

The Toubu tribe is also present in Niger and Chad. Kufra, with a population of about 40,000 people, is located in a triangle sharing borders with Egypt, Chad and Sudan.

The town also witnessed deadly clashes during last year's anti-Gathafi uprising, which erupted across the country and ended with the strongman's death in October.