By Jamel Adel.
Tripoli, 6 February 2014:
A mediator between warring tribal factions in Sebha has said the current state of peace could . . .[restrict]be on the brink of collapse after Zintani forces which moved in to secure the area withdrew.
Khaled Salim, a member of the Zintani mediation committee which arrived in Sebha to negotiate an end to violence between Tebu tribesman and the Awalad Suleiman clan, told the Libya Herald that while relative stability had returned to Sebha for almost a week, members of the Awlad Suleiman tribe had refused to comply with particular terms of the truce. The point of contention was the demand that they withdraw forces from their base at the city’s Faris military compound and hand it over to neutral forces.
Zintani and Misratan revolutionary forces moved into Sebha to act as a buffer between the combatants and wrest control of nearby Tamenhint airbase from Qaddafi loyalists. The Zintan force arrived in the area five days ago at the behest of the government but withdrew yesterday.
An indication that the truce was collapsing was the kidnapping yesterday of seven Tebu detainees. A local Tebu elder in Sebha’s Tebu-majority Qahira district, Adem Ahmed Dazi accused Awlad Suleiman forces for the abduction saying that the seven were being held at the Faris base.
They were seized whilst being escorted to a hospital following a firefight with Misratan revolutionaries. One Tebu man was later reported shot dead outside the disputed base when he attempted to negotiate their release.
When contacted by this paper, Salim said that the Zintani forces were already some 60 kilometres from of Sebha.
He indicated that Misrata’s revolutionaries were also likely to withdraw soon. [/restrict]
