responsibility
Adds statements from rival leaders, prosecutor’s letter
TRIPOLI (awp/afp) – The two rival Prime Ministers in Libya rejected on Sunday the responsibility for the fighting between armed groups in the capital Tripoli, which left 32 dead and 159 injured and revived the specter of war.
Two governments are vying for power in the oil country plunged into chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011: one is based in Tripoli (west) and led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah since the start of 2021, and another led since March last by Fathi Bachagha and supported by the camp of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of the East.
In a speech posted on the government’s Facebook page, Mr Dbeibah accused his rivals of responding to “foreign agendas”, calling them “criminals” and “putschists” who had “wage war in the capital with tanks and heavy weapons”.
“We will prosecute all those who are involved” in the violence, he said, promising to relocate certain headquarters of armed groups outside the center of the capital.
His rival Fathi Bachagha, at the head of an executive based in Sirte, about 500 km east of Tripoli, accused Mr. Dbeibah, “his ruling family and his armed gangs” of being “responsible for the blood that has sunk and what will happen because of their obsession with money and the power they want to keep at all costs”.
However, according to local media and experts, it was Mr. Bachagha who tried to dislodge the government of his rival from Tripoli but failed. He had already tried to install his government in May in Tripoli, also without success.
From Friday to Saturday evening, heavy gunfire and shelling resounded relentlessly in several districts of the capital, a consequence of this power struggle.
If the fighting has stopped, the damage is visible everywhere in Tripoli: buildings riddled with bullets, hundreds of charred cars and six hospitals affected.
“Terrified”
According to the Ministry of Health, 32 people were killed and 159 injured, including an unknown number of civilians.
“Rockets, missiles were flying above our heads, in the middle of residential buildings,” Mohamad Abaya, 38, a resident told AFP.
“We were really terrified,” said Lotfi Ben Rajab, a pensioner living nearby. “The fighting was extremely fierce. A rocket landed in my neighbour’s living room but, thank God, did not explode.”
Armed groups seen as neutral in the standoff, including the al-Radaa (deterrence) Force, sided with Mr. Dbeibah, playing a decisive role in the outcome of the fighting.
In a letter relayed by the local press, the Attorney General asked the Directorate of Passports to ban Mr. Bachagha, some of his ministers from traveling as well as the former head of military intelligence, Oussama Jouili, a key supporter of Mr Bachagha.
The Joint Operations Force, a powerful pro-Dbeibah militia, claimed to have arrested several “attackers” involved in Mr Bachagha’s failed coup.
The latest clashes have been on an unprecedented scale since the failure in June 2020 of Marshal Haftar’s attempt to conquer the capital militarily, at the height of the conflict following the fall of the Gaddafi regime, which fell after a popular revolt.
This conflict has been characterized by East-West rivalries, power struggles, foreign interference and fighting between armed groups.
“Unending”
Tripoli’s interim government was born out of a UN-sponsored process, with the main mission being the organization of elections last December that were postponed indefinitely.
Considering that Mr. Dbeibah’s mandate has expired, the eastern-based parliament appointed Mr. Bachagha as prime minister in February. Mr. Dbeibah, he only wants to give way to a government coming out of the ballot box.
On Sunday, the UN again called for dialogue to resolve the political impasse and “not to use force”.
That said, the crisis is far from over with the myriad of militias with shifting allegiances in Tripoli.
“The armed groups that found themselves on the same side in the fighting yesterday in Tripoli will clash tomorrow for territory, positions and budgets. The factions that were pro-Dbeibah yesterday will challenge him tomorrow. It’s a never-ending story “, summarized on Twitter, Wolfram Lacher, Libya expert at the German SWP Institute.
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