Armed groups clash in turf war near Tripoli airport

LibyanRebelGunmenTRIPOLI (Reuters) – A convoy carrying one of Libya’s most senior military leaders was involved in a gunfight between rival armed groups overnight near Tripoli’s international airport, local militia commanders said on Sunday.

 

It was the latest in a series of clashes between rival militias which, in the absence of a fully-functioning central government, wield the real power on the streets in Libya since a revolt forced out former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Two commanders said the clashes began when a vehicle carrying Khalifa Haftar, who helped lead the battle to end Gaddafi’s rule, approached a checkpoint about 3 km from the airport which was manned by militiamen from outside Tripoli.

“Khalifa Haftar and his convoy came to the checkpoint and did not stop when they were asked to,” Colonel Mukhtar Fernana, who said his militia was at the scene of the clashes, told Reuters.

“When they (the men at the checkpoint) tried to stop them, Haftar’s guards opened fire and injured two people,” he said.

He said Haftar’s convoy was then pursued to the nearby Hamza military camp, which his forces were using as a base, and a second gunfight broke out there. A second militia commander, Abdullah Mohammed Attroudi, confirmed that account.

Haftar could not immediately be reached to give his account of the events.

Ahmed Bani, a military spokesman with Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), did not give details of the incident, but said: “There is no political or other problem. The problem is now sorted out.”

Haftar was one of the group of Libyan military officers who carried out the 1969 coup which brought Gaddafi to power. He later fell out with the former Libyan leader, and spent the past 20 years living in the United States.

He returned to his native Benghazi, in eastern Libya, when the revolt broke out there in February this year, and was a commander of anti-Gaddafi forces in the east of the country.

With Libya’s government only just taking shape and the military hierarchy in a state of flux, his exact status now is unclear. Some officials describe him as acting army chief of staff but others say that post has not yet been filled.

FRICTION

Earlier, a commander of the militia guarding the airport, Mukhtar Al-Akhdar, said the gunfight broke out because a convoy of national army vehicles arrived at the checkpoint and said it was taking over control of airport security.

He said the row was defused after intervention from NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, caretaker Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib and Defence Minister Osama Al-Juwali.

The airport has already been the focus of friction between rival militias. It is patrolled by fighters from Zintan, a town about 160 km south-west of Tripoli.

Their control is resented by other groups, who say the Zintan militia should hand over to central government institutions.

Libya’s multitude of armed militias emerged from the fight to end Gaddafi’s rule. Nearly two months after the fighting ended, Libya’s interim leadership says it is time for the militias to hand over to the new national police and army.

Most militia leaders say publicly that they are ready to do so as soon as they receive the order from the NTC. But the national police and army are still being created, and there is no consensus about who should hold the key posts.

Tripoli city council has given militias from other towns until December 20 to return home. The council chief said if they do not meet the deadline, all roads in the city will be blocked, except to defence and interior ministry vehicles.

But some of the militias believe that if they withdraw, they will leave a vacuum that rival groups will fill, operating under the guise of the national army or police.

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