By Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 19 March 2014:
The Misrata-led Central Libya Shield forces says that it and Brigade No. 166, also from Misrata, . . .[restrict]now control Sebha’s historic castle and the nearby Qatiba Faris camp, previously in the hands of Brigade No. 6.
The latter brigade, until last month the main national army unit in the town, is largely made up of members of the Awlad Sulaiman tribe.
Sebha was engulfed in deadly communal clashes between the Awlad Suleiman and members of the Tebu community in January in which over a hundred people were killed. This then enabled Qaddafi loyalists to gain a foothold at the nearby Tamerhint Airbase.
In response, Misratan and Zintani units were deployed last month to enforce peace.
“We officially took in charge of the 6th brigade camp yesterday after its members agreed to withdraw” the spokesperson of the Shield forces, Ala Al-Huwaik, told the Libya Herald last night. “The historic castle was also handed over to us and brigade 166. We are officially now control.”
The transfer followed lengthy negotiations mediated by local elders to “make sure that all combatants hand over their strongholds to neutral forces”, he said.
However, the Tebu had still not handed over the the checkpoint on Sebha – Murzuk road they controlled.
They must comply, Huwaik insisted.
Disputing the handover claim, a Tebu source in Sebha claimed that not all the camp had been vacated. He told this paper that a missile had been fired from it at the town’s Nassiriya district, home to many members of the Tebu community. Four had been injured and transferred to hospital in Murzuk for treatment.
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