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Tripoli, March 30 2012: A new ceasefire deal has been agreed between the clashing factions in Sebha. It was supposed to come . . .[restrict]into effect at 9.00am local time on Friday.
Under the agreement, Tebu forces are to withdraw from all areas and recognise the authority of the national army. The army will protect them as they withdraw. The national armed forces will be in charge of all security operations in the south and on the border.
In return, Tebus are to be given back all their properties throughout Libya and there will be an investigation into the conflict. It will also assess losses and compensation due.
Local militias are to be integrated into the national army or the ministry of Interior forces.
The agreement was negotiated by representatives of the Council of Elders of Libya, Sebha local council and members of Misrata military in the southern city. It also has the blessing of the Minister of Local Government, Mohammad Hadi Hashemi Harari.
The ceasefire agreement is effectively the same as the one negotiated on Wednesday but clashes resumed after just a few hours.
The relatively minor reasons that sparked the clashes highlight the government’s fragile control of the country.
According to Abdul Kader Umar Hweli, a leading Sebha figure, the conflict began between Awlad Abu Seif tribe and Tebus over a car belonging to a member of the Awlid Abu Seif working at the electricity company. He was killed. Electricity company employees then demanded that those responsible be arrested. A meeting was held to negotiate but according to Hweli, one of the Tebu “misbehaved” leading to a fight in which three Tebus were killed. Tebu members of the Sebha brigade then attacked Sebha’s military council, he said, and stole the LD 200,000; the money was supposed to have been handed out in the NTC’s grant to revolutionaries.
According to Issa Abdul Majid, the leader of Tebu fighters who has accused NTC of supporting ethnic cleansing, some 80 Tebus have been killed in the Sebha fighting. He also said that the problems in Kufra where 130 people died last month in clashes between the Tebus and the Zway tribe, still have not been resolved.
He called on NTC to work on solving these problems or resign and leave them to other Libyans in order to maintain the stability of Libya. [/restrict]
