Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Qaddafi Loyalists Seize Air Base and Other Areas in Southern Libya

Sebha airbase “back in pro-Qaddafi hands”: Murzuk commander

By Jamal Adel
Tripoli, 21 January 2014

The Tamenhint airbase 30 kilometres north-east of Sebha is reported to be back in pro-Qaddafi hands after Tebu forces from Murzuk who were guarding it withdrew. They unilaterally pulled out yesterday evening claiming that the government was deliberately exploiting clashes in Sebha between Tebus and Awlad Sulaiman in order to divert attention from moves to replace it with a new administration.

It has not been possible to confirm the allegations.

The airbase was first seized on Saturday by pro-Qaddafi elements but they then withdrew by evening as government forces led by the Murzuk unit approached.

“Ali Zeidan is the one who contributed the worsening situation in the south in an attempt to divert attention,” the head of Murzuk Military Council, Colonel Barka Warduko, told the Libya Herald today. He said he had withdrawn all his troops from the base.

Warduko accused the Prime Minister of increasing tensions in the south – at Sebha, the airbase and the Sarir oilfield – in an attempt to undermine calls for his removal on the basis that with the country’s security under threat Libya could not afford a change in government. He said that Zeidan was being deliberately partial, supporting one group and neglecting others. He claimed that the situation in the south, particularly the animosity between the Tebus and the Awlad Sulaiman, was getting worse despite the best efforts of various mediators to promote reconciliation.

Warduko appeared, however, not to be overly concerned that his decision to withdraw from the airbase had allowed pro-Qaddafi an opening. He said that forces from Misrata were on their way to ensure law and order in the area.

Misratan forces headed south on Saturday, following a meeting in Misrata between Defence Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni and Misrata Local Council and other Misratan officials, but they went to Jufra rather than Sebha.

Forces from Zintan are also expected to head towards Sebha to help secure the area.

Clashes have continued in the southern regional capital. It was reported this afternoon to be quieter than yesterday but that overnight clashes had resulted in three dead and nine wounded being taken to the medical centre.

Shops and business remain shut, according to the Libyan news agency LANA.

Meanwhile yesterday, the National Security Directorate in Sebha warned that the lack of human and financial resources from the authorities was exacerbating the crisis in the area. At a meeting yesterday, it said that it was trying its best to maintain security but that it lacked the wherewithal to ensure the safety of banks, businesses and other institutions and maintain law and order on the streets.

Read more: http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/01/21/sebha-airbase-back-in-pro-qaddafi-hands-murzuk-commander/#ixzz2r6ETC7wB


Journalists “captured and beaten” by Qaddafi supporters during Sebha airbase raid

By Jamel Adel
Tripoli, 20 January 2014

It has emerged that three journalists from Fezzan TV, who were covering Saturday’s seizure of the Tamenhint airbase 30 kilometres north east of Sebha by Qaddafi loyalists, were captured and beaten by the attackers.

According to Nabeel Al-Sokni, a presenter with Fezzan TV, the three – cameraman Zeidan Almahdi, presenter Adem Al-Shreef and coordinator Abdallah Abu Abda – were grabbed by the pro-Qaddafi forces while filming at the airbase. He told the Libya Herald that they had been “beaten and tortured” by the attackers, with injuries to their faces and bodies.

He indicated that when the attackers fled the base on Saturday evening, after which Sebha revolutionaries arrived, they took the reporters with them. They were released yesterday evening, he said.

The three have said nothing about the identities of the attackers other than that they were pro-Qaddafi.

Al-Sokni called on media organisations in Libya to work together to ensure that the press could operate freely and not be subject to attacks.

Read more: http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/01/20/journalists-captured-and-beaten-by-qaddafi-supporters-during-sebha-airbase-raid/#ixzz2r6Ge0qzs


No foreign troops entered Libyan southern borders – government

By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 21 January 2014:

The Libyan government assured the public in a press release yesterday that no foreign troops had entered Libyan territory through its south eastern borders.

The government added, in its press release, that “these elements and groups that are broadcasting these rumours are attempting to cause confusion and anxiety amongst citizens”.

“The government therefore assures everyone”, the statement continued, “that the situation on the borders is normal and that no forces have entered through the borders to Libyan territory”, the government statement added.

This statement comes on the back of rising tensions in various parts of Libya as a group of pro-Qaddafi supporters occupied Tamenhint air force base about 35 km north east of Sebha, as well as skirmishes in Sebha and the Wirshefana area.

There was also an attack on the Italian war cemetery in Tripoli by a group wielding the green Qaddafi-era flag.

Upon the outbreak of the clashes in Sebha, reports started to circulate that the incidents were initiated by groups of foreigners from Chad. This news had caused anxiety amongst the general public, which called upon the government to react to these foreign forces.

Read more: http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/01/21/no-foreign-troops-entered-libyan-southern-borders-government/#ixzz2r6HdZ4xc


Fighting in Warshefana area continues; woman killed

By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Janzour, Tripoli, 21 January 2014:

Heavy firing around Najila, south of Tripoli’s suburb of Jazour, continued today with at last one elderly woman killed when the taxi she was traveling in was hit by a missile. Fifteen other people are reported to have been injured, a number of them civilians.

The fighting started two days ago when security forces were dispatched to the area to arrest 177 people wanted by the public prosecutor to face charges of kidnapping, carjacking and other crimes. However, although they managed to arrest some 30 individuals, they encountered far stronger resistance than expected and 11 people were killed in fighting on Sunday including Mohamed Kara, brother the former SSC commander Abdul Raouf Kara.

In today’s continuing dragnet, four more suspects are reported to have been arrested. They were said to have been trying to escape from a farm near Najila. However, despite the deployment of more army units in the area yesterday as well as tanks, there was no let-up in fighting which remained intense as local armed forces allegedly rallied to the defence of the alleged criminals.

Last night sources close to the defenders said that they expected Misrati forces to be sent to the area and were prepared to use Katyusha rockets in response. Today, it was reported that at least 20 such rockets as well as other missiles were fired.

There are, however, also claims of indiscriminate firing by the security forces. One rocket is said to have hit a residential building in Najila, another to have landed in west Tripoli’s Dreibi district, where a missile also landed last night. No one is reported to have been injured in the Dreibi attacks.

The elderly women who died today, who has not been named, was in a taxi in Najila when it was hit. The driver is in intensive care in Abu Sleem hospital.

The clashes are taking place in the Warshefana area and Warshefana Shura Council said this afternoon that it had called on the government to stop the dragnet and what it called attacks on civilians. It claims that the government, in response, had said that it never ordered the operation.

Meanwhile, there are fears in the west end of Janzour, at Sayad, five kilometres away, that the clashes will spread there. The main road heading west toward Zawia is already all but empty of traffic and some residents this afternoon said that they have been advised to stay elsewhere this evening.

Read more: http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/01/21/fighting-in-warshefana-district-continues-woman-killed/#ixzz2r6IRDG7u

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