Saleh Grain, the Qaddafi’s ambassador to Chad is the actual mastermind of the fighting in Kufra, in the extreme south of . . .[restrict]Libya, the Libyan website “Revolution of Libya” has claimed.
Quoting military sources at the National Transitional Council (NTC), the site said Grain, who was previously accused of stealing the funds of the Libyan people, had allied with Isa Abdul Majid, head of the local Tebu brigade, who was assigned by the NTC to deal with securing the border. Majid has since been relieved from this position.
According to the sources, those who are now fighting in Kufra are Chadians carrying fake IDs stating that they are freedom fighters from Sebha and Murzuq. The sources said these fighters had no official papers or passports proving that they were Libyans.
In an interview on Tuesday with Associated Press, NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil had said Qaddafi loyalists were deliberately “seeding sedition” in Kufra.
Earlier on Wednesday, the head of the military council in Kufra, Colonel Sulaiman, said that following the collapse of yet another ceasefire between Kufra’s dominant Zway tribe and the minority Tebu residents four more people had been killed on Wednesday.
Reuters news agency, quoting an unidentified tribal source, said three people were killed and 25 others injured on Tuesday in fighting between two rival tribes which has been continued for 10 days.
The fighting was taking place at a time the NTC has been trying to impose its control on the entire country. Skirmishes between militias and tribal groups over power and resources have not been uncommon in Libya since the downfall of Qaddafi.
A security source from the Zway said armed elements from his tribe had been attacked by fighters from the African Tebu tribe led by Isa Abdul Majid who was accused of attacking Kufra with mercenaries from Chad. For their part, the Tebu said they were the ones being attacked.
“Fighting has stopped now but the situation is very tense. Three people were killed today,” said Tebu resident in Kufra Abdul Bari Idriss on Wednesday.
Medical sources said, also on Wednesday, that 25 people had been injured that day in fighting. They said a group of Chadians had seized control of 30 houses and a separate housing complex which had to be evacuated by the residents who fled to nearby oases. These reports, however, could not be confirmed by independent sources.
Meanwhile Libyan chief of staff Yousuf Al-Mangoush said last Monday that the armed forces would intervene if the fighting did not stop. He said though the two sides signed an agreement to end hostilities on Sunday, the fighting had erupted again more fiercely.
The chief of staff denied the presence any foreign forces in the region but said the two tribes had a history of conflicts between them. “There is now dire need for reconciliation,” he added.
He said the armed forces were in the region but they did not interfere in the fighting.
The Tabu exist mainly in Chad but they are also found in south Libya, Algeria and Niger.
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