Page 9 - ARUBA TODAY

A9
WORLD NEWS Wednesday 17 april 2019
In Libya, a rogues’ gallery of militias prepare for war

By RAMI MUSA intercept boats run by rival
SAMY MAGDY smuggling networks and
Associated Press then detain, abuse and ex-
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Lib- ploit migrants.
ya is on the verge of an all- ___
out war involving a rogues’ LIBYA DAWN
gallery of militias, many of A loose alliance of militias,
which are little more than including some affiliated
criminal gangs armed with with the Muslim Brother-
heavy weapons. hood group, seized Tripoli
The country slid into chaos in 2014 after their rivals won
after the 2011 uprising, in disputed parliamentary
which rebels overthrew elections. The new parlia-
and killed longtime dic- ment relocated to eastern
tator Moammar Gadhafi Libya and later allied itself
and looted his vast arse- with Hifter, resulting in com-
nal. Even more weapons peting governments.
have flowed in since then, The militias, known as Libya
despite a U.N. arms em- Dawn, are widely believed
bargo, as Arab states have to have received support
backed local allies and from Turkey and Qatar,
Western nations have part- which are also believed to
nered with militias to com- have backed Islamist fac-
bat extremists and stem the tions during the 2011 upris-
flow of migrants. ing.
A former general is now This Sept. 21, 2018 file photo, shows fighters under the UN-backed government on the front lines The Steadfastness Front, led
marching on the capi- during clashes in southern Tripoli. by militia leader Saleh Badi,
tal, Tripoli, where an array Associated Press is seen as the successor to
of militias — which have try’s main oil facilities, and court powerful militias for its to receive letters of credit the alliance, which frac-
fought each other in the has recently made inroads own protection, and these worth more than $20 mil- tured after the U.N.-backed
past — have for now joined across the south. groups have vowed to re- lion. His group was also be- government was estab-
forces to prevent a re- His forces include the rem- pel Hifter’s forces. hind the brief kidnapping lished. He is under U.N. and
turn to one-man rule. The nants of Gadhafi’s army as Wolfram Lacher, a Libya ex- of a former prime minister U.S. sanctions for repeat-
fighting has already killed well as tribal fighters and pert at the German Institute in 2017. edly attacking forces allied
around 150 people, ac- ultra-conservative Islamists for International and Secu- ___ with Serraj’s government,
cording to U.N. figures. The known as Salafists. They ap- rity Affairs, says the main MISRATA AND ZAWIYA most recently last August.
International Crisis Group, a pear more like a regular Tripoli militias dominate Ser- The western towns of Misra- But for now, he is siding with
Washington- and Brussels- army than their adversaries, raj’s government and have ta and Zawiya saw some of them against Hifter.
based think tank, said last with uniforms and a clear infiltrated its institutions to the heaviest fighting during ___
week that the two main chain of command. The pillage state resources. the 2011 uprising and boast MIGRANT PATROLS
coalitions “appear equally LNA is allied with other mili- In a report published last powerful local militias allied After 2011, Libya emerged
matched,” with fighter jets, tias from the western city of year, he described them with the U.N.-backed gov- as a major conduit for refu-
gunships and heavy artil- Zintan that were driven out as “criminal networks strad- ernment. gees and migrants fleeing
lery. of Tripoli in 2014. dling business, politics and The Misrata militias secured war and poverty in Africa
HIFTER’S ARMY Hifter’s forces boast MiG administration.” U.S. military support for their for a better life in Europe.
The self-styled Libyan Na- fighter jets supplied by They include the Special campaign against the Is- Thousands of migrants
tional Army, led by Field neighboring Egypt, as well Deterrent Force, led by lamic State group in 2016, have perished while trying
Marshal Khalifa Hifter, as drones, attack helicop- Salafist commander Abdel- eventually driving the ex- to cross the Mediterranean
launched a surprise offen- ters and mine-resistant ve- Rauf Kara, which controls tremists from their main in overcrowded boats while
sive to retake Tripoli on April hicles. the entrances to Tripoli as stronghold in the central others have been detained
5. Hifter’s opponents view Their heavy weapons and well as Matiga, the capi- city of Sirte. The Misratans and abused by smugglers
him as an aspiring dicta- air power give them an tal’s only functioning air- also have a large number and armed groups.
tor, and one of his com- advantage in open areas. port. The Nawasi Brigade, of tanks they captured from The European Union has
manders is wanted by the But they have struggled in led by Salafist Mustafa Gadhafi’s forces in 2011. provided aid to Serraj’s
International Criminal Court urban combat, and their Qadro, controls the naval Zawiya is home to the Mar- government to help stem
for war crimes, accused of campaigns in the east have base that houses Serraj’s tyrs of Victory Brigade, an- the flow of migrants, and
dozens of extrajudicial kill- left a swath of destruction government. other powerful militia that Italy has provided vessels
ings. in Benghazi and other cit- The Tripoli Revolutionaries has joined the alliance and training to the Libyan
Hifter, who served as a mili- ies. A similar scenario could Brigade is led by Haitham against Hifter. Militiamen coast guard.
tary officer under Gadhafi play out in Tripoli, with local al-Tajuri, who was a bus from Zawiya captured 100 The Associated Press re-
before defecting in the militias luring Hifter’s forces driver before the 2011 up- of Hifter’s fighters the day ported in 2017 that Italy
1980s, has presented him- into the city and fighting rising but now tools around after he launched his of- had reached an agree-
self as a strong leader who block by block. the capital in a white Mer- fensive. ment with the U.N.-backed
can unify the country. He ___ cedes SUV, sporting clothes The leader of the Martyrs government to pay militias
has spent the last few years TRIPOLI MILITIAS by Versace and Dolce & of Victory Brigade, Mah- implicated in trafficking to
battling extremist groups The U.N. and Western na- Gabbana. His forces con- moud Kachlaf, is under U.N. prevent migrants from de-
and other rivals in eastern tions support a transitional trol much of Tripoli, includ- sanctions for allegedly run- parting from the port city of
Libya with aid from the Unit- government set up in Tripoli ing the southern outskirts. ning a large migrant smug- Sabratha. Security officials
ed Arab Emirates, Egypt, in 2016 and led by Fayez A U.N. report in 2016 said gling network. He is ac- at the time warned that
Russia and France. He now Sarraj, a technocrat with al-Tajuri and his associates cused of working with the the groups would use the
controls most of eastern no military experience. His had threatened Central commander of the Libyan aid to buy arms and recruit
Libya, including the coun- government was forced to Bank employees in order coast guard in Zawiya to fighters.q