Violent clashes in western Libya – DETAILS
Violent clashes took place yesterday in the western Libyan city of Sabratha between militias affiliated with the outgoing unity government led by Abdelhamid Dabiba.
“Violent clashes killed two people and injured dozens more, with several mosques unable to hold Friday prayers, hundreds of families evacuated from the city, and the coastal road closed, the Libyan Emergency and Ambulance Service (EMA) said.”
“The Sabratha clashes have killed two people so far,” agency spokesman Oussama Alifi said in a press statement carried by Africa Portal, without mentioning the parties involved in the clashes or specifying whether the dead were civilians or soldiers.
The clashes closed the coastal road from Tripoli to the Tunisian border.
The outgoing Libyan government had no comment on the clashes, but local media reported that the two groups are affiliated with the national unity government.
According to the Libyan Observatory, the clashes in central Sabratha came after an armed force affiliated with the militias of “First Support Force al-Zawiya” commander Mohammed Bahrun, also known as “al-Far”, tried to enter the city to capture forcibly the leaders of armed groups, foremost among them Ahmed al-Dabbashi, alias “al-Amu”; “A huge military build-up of militias based inside Sabratha began to clash with the group.”
Militias used medium and heavy weapons; Some houses and cars were completely destroyed and huge material losses were incurred.
Libya is witnessing security tension and political division, with two governments struggling for power since last March; One is headed by Fathi Bashagha, who was appointed by the Council of Representatives in Tobruk, while the other is the unity government headed by outgoing Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dabiba, who refuses to hand over power.
UN-sponsored efforts to forge a Libyan consensus on a constitutional basis for parliamentary and presidential elections, which Libyans hope will lead to a transfer of power and an end to the years-long armed conflict plaguing their oil-rich country, have stalled.
