Libya’s Civil War Chaos Draws in Remote South
Borzou Daragahi in Cairo
Financial Times
The civil war between Libya’s two main political camps has spread to the remote oil and water-rich south, drawing two minority groups into a proxy battle that threatens to deepen the country’s chaos.
In recent weeks, fighting has erupted between the powerful Tebu people and elements of the Tuareg minority in and around the southern city of Owbari, close to the El-Sharara oil facility, one of Libya’s largest.
If Libya’s warring factions fail to resolve their differences, the country risks falling prey to pro-Isis forces, Borzou Daragahi tells Fiona Symon.
Libya has been riven by a months-long conflict between armed forces and militias loyal to the elected government, temporarily located in the city of Tubruq, and the so-called Libya Dawn alliance of militias led by Islamists and warlords from Misurata, who have declared a rival government in Tripoli.
An expansion of the fighting to the south could have grave consequences. Both the Tebu and Tuareg maintain strong kinship and trade ties to neighbouring African states such as Chad, Niger and Mali.
Libya’s oil and water resources, underground aquifers that supply much of the country, are heavily concentrated in the south and could also be threatened.
“It’s going to mean a great deal because of Libya’s connections to the African interior, which are very strong,” said Andrew McGregor, a Toronto-based security consultant who tracks developments in southern Libya. “In addition to disruptions of trade routes and the oil supply, there’s potential for this thing to start spreading across borders.”
Members of the Tubruq parliament have been struggling to broker a lasting truce in the south and fear the chaos could give an opening to forces loyal to the rival self-declared “national salvation” government in Tripoli, which is imposed by a collection of militias called Libya Dawn.
“Our troops in the south are the ones dealing with these groups (that are backed by forces) from Libya Dawn,” Abdul Razzaq al-Nazuri, armed forces chief of staff, told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper last week. “These extremists are trying to portray fighting there as a tribal conflict between the Tuareg and Tebu tribes, while the truth is that fighting is between the Libyan national army forces in the south and the Libya Dawn forces.”
The exact contours of the fighting in Libya’s remote south remain murky. Tensions over control of oil smuggling routes have festered for months. Tebu militias have held a tenuous sway over largely Tuareg towns since the 2011 Nato-backed overthrow of longtime ruler Muammer Gaddafi.
Videos posted on the internet show Tuareg and Tebu fighters firing Kalashnikovs and machine guns mounted on pick-up trucks as mortar strikes rattle the earth and plumes of grey smoke rise from the flatlands.
“Owbari is ours,” a Tuareg fighter declares in a video on October 19. “It’s not going to belong to the Tebu.”
Witnesses and activists describe a dire humanitarian situation in the already impoverished region, which has suffered decades of neglect despite sitting on most of Libya’s oil and water resources. The fighting has caused widespread destruction and hundreds of families have been displaced. With supply lines from the capital cut off, there is also an urgent need for medical services and food.
“Owbari looks like a ghost city now,” Amina Mohamed Moussa, director of an charity for Tuareg women, said in a telephone interview from the city of Sebha. “No one walks out in the street and the markets are closed.”
Mainstream Tuareg leaders recently pledged allegiance to the Tubruq government. But activists, politicians and experts allege that Libya Dawn has recruited and armed hardline Islamist fighters from among the Tuareg, including some from neighbouring Niger and even Mali, to launch attacks on the Tebu. In a sign of their jihadi allegiance, videos posted by Tuareg fighters show them vowing to “liberate” Afghanistan and Palestinian lands from foreign occupiers.
The Tebu, alongside pro-government militias from the western city of Zintan, protect the country’s important Sharara oilfield, co-owned by Repsol, the Spanish energy giant, near Owbari, where much of the fighting has taken place. The oilfield yields 340,000 barrels per day, more than a third of Libya’s current output.
Some analysts see the conflict between the two groups as a complicated strategic game. The Tuareg attacks in Owbari keep the Tebu pinned down in the south, preventing them from joining Zintan fighters seeking to take control of Tripoli. Tebu fighters in southeastern city of Kufra have already joined the fight against Libya Dawn allies in the eastern city of Benghazi. The fighting also gives Libya Dawn an opportunity to seize control of the coveted oilfields.
“The Tebu are good fighters and everyone admits that and everyone understands that,” says Claudia Gazzini, of the International Crisis Group. “If the violence continues and if there is no resolution to the Tebu-Tuareg conflict there will be gathering momentum for a third force to move into the areas.
And at the moment the third force would be Misurata [Libya Dawn].”
Tuareg
A traditionally Nomadic people who speak a dialect of the Berber, or Amazigh, language and have long traversed the Sahara, with roots in Niger, Mali and Algeria.
Tebu
Rooted in the Tibesti Mountains of Chad, the Tebu are a dark-skinned people with ties to both Chad and Niger.
Additional reporting by Lobna Monieb
Twitter: @borzou
Borzou Daragahi in Cairo
Financial Times
The civil war between Libya’s two main political camps has spread to the remote oil and water-rich south, drawing two minority groups into a proxy battle that threatens to deepen the country’s chaos.
In recent weeks, fighting has erupted between the powerful Tebu people and elements of the Tuareg minority in and around the southern city of Owbari, close to the El-Sharara oil facility, one of Libya’s largest.
If Libya’s warring factions fail to resolve their differences, the country risks falling prey to pro-Isis forces, Borzou Daragahi tells Fiona Symon.
Libya has been riven by a months-long conflict between armed forces and militias loyal to the elected government, temporarily located in the city of Tubruq, and the so-called Libya Dawn alliance of militias led by Islamists and warlords from Misurata, who have declared a rival government in Tripoli.
An expansion of the fighting to the south could have grave consequences. Both the Tebu and Tuareg maintain strong kinship and trade ties to neighbouring African states such as Chad, Niger and Mali.
Libya’s oil and water resources, underground aquifers that supply much of the country, are heavily concentrated in the south and could also be threatened.
“It’s going to mean a great deal because of Libya’s connections to the African interior, which are very strong,” said Andrew McGregor, a Toronto-based security consultant who tracks developments in southern Libya. “In addition to disruptions of trade routes and the oil supply, there’s potential for this thing to start spreading across borders.”
Members of the Tubruq parliament have been struggling to broker a lasting truce in the south and fear the chaos could give an opening to forces loyal to the rival self-declared “national salvation” government in Tripoli, which is imposed by a collection of militias called Libya Dawn.
“Our troops in the south are the ones dealing with these groups (that are backed by forces) from Libya Dawn,” Abdul Razzaq al-Nazuri, armed forces chief of staff, told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper last week. “These extremists are trying to portray fighting there as a tribal conflict between the Tuareg and Tebu tribes, while the truth is that fighting is between the Libyan national army forces in the south and the Libya Dawn forces.”
The exact contours of the fighting in Libya’s remote south remain murky. Tensions over control of oil smuggling routes have festered for months. Tebu militias have held a tenuous sway over largely Tuareg towns since the 2011 Nato-backed overthrow of longtime ruler Muammer Gaddafi.
Videos posted on the internet show Tuareg and Tebu fighters firing Kalashnikovs and machine guns mounted on pick-up trucks as mortar strikes rattle the earth and plumes of grey smoke rise from the flatlands.
“Owbari is ours,” a Tuareg fighter declares in a video on October 19. “It’s not going to belong to the Tebu.”
Witnesses and activists describe a dire humanitarian situation in the already impoverished region, which has suffered decades of neglect despite sitting on most of Libya’s oil and water resources. The fighting has caused widespread destruction and hundreds of families have been displaced. With supply lines from the capital cut off, there is also an urgent need for medical services and food.
“Owbari looks like a ghost city now,” Amina Mohamed Moussa, director of an charity for Tuareg women, said in a telephone interview from the city of Sebha. “No one walks out in the street and the markets are closed.”
Mainstream Tuareg leaders recently pledged allegiance to the Tubruq government. But activists, politicians and experts allege that Libya Dawn has recruited and armed hardline Islamist fighters from among the Tuareg, including some from neighbouring Niger and even Mali, to launch attacks on the Tebu. In a sign of their jihadi allegiance, videos posted by Tuareg fighters show them vowing to “liberate” Afghanistan and Palestinian lands from foreign occupiers.
The Tebu, alongside pro-government militias from the western city of Zintan, protect the country’s important Sharara oilfield, co-owned by Repsol, the Spanish energy giant, near Owbari, where much of the fighting has taken place. The oilfield yields 340,000 barrels per day, more than a third of Libya’s current output.
Some analysts see the conflict between the two groups as a complicated strategic game. The Tuareg attacks in Owbari keep the Tebu pinned down in the south, preventing them from joining Zintan fighters seeking to take control of Tripoli. Tebu fighters in southeastern city of Kufra have already joined the fight against Libya Dawn allies in the eastern city of Benghazi. The fighting also gives Libya Dawn an opportunity to seize control of the coveted oilfields.
“The Tebu are good fighters and everyone admits that and everyone understands that,” says Claudia Gazzini, of the International Crisis Group. “If the violence continues and if there is no resolution to the Tebu-Tuareg conflict there will be gathering momentum for a third force to move into the areas.
And at the moment the third force would be Misurata [Libya Dawn].”
Tuareg
A traditionally Nomadic people who speak a dialect of the Berber, or Amazigh, language and have long traversed the Sahara, with roots in Niger, Mali and Algeria.
Tebu
Rooted in the Tibesti Mountains of Chad, the Tebu are a dark-skinned people with ties to both Chad and Niger.
Additional reporting by Lobna Monieb
Twitter: @borzou
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