Yesterday, and today, images have increasingly appeared on social media purporting to show the corpse of the leader of the Stability Support Apparatus militia, Abdelghani Ghnewa Al-Kikly, in his hometown of Kikla in the Western Nefusa Mountains, about 130 km southwest of Tripoli.
These followed an official mourning message appearing on the SSA’s official social media page. The page is clearly still under the control of the SSA as it criticised the Tripoli government for his death.
The Tripoli based Aldabaiba government has still not officially confirmed or acknowledged Ghnewa’s death. Ghnewa died in contested circumstances after a meeting with military commanders aligned to Aldabaiba.
Today, video images of Abdelghani Ghnewa’s purported funeral in Kikla appeared on social media and overseas based Libyan TV stations with a huge turnout of mourners. At the end of the burial, the gathered condemned Ghnewa’s ”treacherous murder” and called for the downfall of the Aldabaiba government.
His death has precipitated in three days (Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th) of militia clashes and demonstrations in Tripoli resulting in the closure of schools and universities and Tripoli’s Mitiga airport. A ceasefire seems to have taken hold, and Tripoli is experiencing calm today.
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