{"id":20255,"date":"2018-10-29T12:28:24","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T12:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=20255"},"modified":"2018-10-29T12:28:24","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T12:28:24","slug":"libyas-south-falls-prey-to-foreign-armed-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=20255","title":{"rendered":"Libya\u2019s south falls prey to foreign armed groups"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nTRIPOLI: Neglected by rival authorities in Tripoli and the country\u2019s east, Libya\u2019s southern desert has increasingly become a hideout for foreign rebel groups that stand accused of stoking growing insecurity.
\u201cKidnapping, theft and banditry have multiplied\u201d in the region, said Ali Akri Molia, commander of a unit responsible for protecting oil installations in the Oubari area of southern Libya.
He and others blame rebel groups from neighboring Chad for much of the insecurity.
Mired in chaos since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, two entities now vie for control over Libya \u2014 the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, and a parallel body in the east.
The eastern administration is supported by strongman Khalifa Haftar, who heads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA).
Various groups, from jihadists to rebel groups originally from neighboring Chad and Sudan have exploited Libya\u2019s enduring security vacuum.
The rebel factions have established rear basesin Libya and profit from trafficking and other illicit activities to finance insurgencies back home.
The groups benefit from the support of tribal communities, criss-crossing a landscape where dunes are sometimes the only identifying features.
Often on horseback, they ignore borders that for long stretches remain nothing more than imaginary lines in the sand.
The Tubu people are among those that straddle Libya and Chad. Some of them are involved in smuggling and illegal migration, according to experts.
\u201cMost Chadian and Sudanese opposition armed groups have been seeking to increase their presence in Libya in the pursuit of profit,\u201d said a recent report by a UN group of experts on Libya.
Mohammed Emdaouar, a southern Libya lawmaker, said the groups operate in a vast area extending from Koufra near Chad to the Marzuq basin, more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the border.
The rebels \u201coccupy homes and have their cars. Nobody can touch them,\u201d he lamented.
Previously accused of operating as mercenaries for rival Libyan camps, Chadian rebel groups now stand accused of driving a resurgence of violence in southern Libya.<\/p>\n

Commander Molia cited the kidnapping in mid-October of members of a tribe near the Oum Al-Araneb region.
The captives were freed from the clutches of Chadian rebels by local armed groups, but 10 Libyan fighters were killed in the rescue operation, said Molia.
The commander complained that his forces get no support from the GNA or the eastern administration, leaving them ill-equipped to battle insecurity.
One of the freed hostages, Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed, told AFP the Chadians claimed ransoms from families.
Two Chadian groups operating in Libya denied involvement in kidnapping activities.
\u201cWe categorically deny (what) they accuse us of,\u201d said Kingabe Ogouzeimi de Tapol, leader of the armed wing of a group called the Salvation of the Republic.
In August, his group launched an offensive in Chad\u2019s far north, before retreating to shelter in southern Libya.
Another Chadian group present in Libya, the Union of Resistance Forces, also denied involvement and accused Libyan commanders of being behind the kidnappings.
\u201cThere are Chadians… who work for the Libyans, for the tribes,\u201d said spokesman Youssouf Hamid. He said any Chadians involved would not have acted on their own initiative.
The UN Mission in Libya has condemned rights violations by foreign armed groups and has urged \u201cthe Libyan authorities to take swift and effective measures to fight anarchy in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday the UN-backed government in Tripoli held a cabinet meeting focused on the country\u2019s south.
\u201cWhat is happening in the south is very dangerous,\u201d said the GNA\u2019s deputy prime minister Abdessalam Kajman.
He urged \u201cfirmness\u201d in tackling Chadian and Sudanese opposition \u201cbandits.\u201d
Meanwhile, the LNA has ordered a military operation to fight \u201ccriminal gangs and the Chadian opposition who engage in kidnapping and extortion, deriving significant revenues that could finance terrorist activities,\u201d LNA spokesman Ahmed Al-Mesmari told AFP.
A recent meeting in Chad\u2019s capital N\u2019Djamena between Haftar and President Idriss Deby Itno falls within this military remit, he said.
But in reality Libya\u2019s vast south escapes the control of both the GNA and its rivals in the east, even if Haftar\u2019s self-styled LNA says that it has an on-the-ground presence.
\u201cThe southern territory is vast, difficult and… does not necessarily promise a very substantial political dividend,\u201d said Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya specialist at the University of Paris 8.
This discourages the main Libyan forces from intervening, he added.
But Harchaoui said Chad\u2019s government and former colonizer France are also worried that a jihadist presence could further unravel the Sahel region, which leaves them dependent on Haftar.
\u201cHaftar is supposed to re-establish order in this vast territory,\u201d he said.
But while the strongman has \u201cmade many reassuring declarations, the reality (on the ground) remains worrying.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TRIPOLI: Neglected by rival authorities in Tripoli and the country\u2019s east, Libya\u2019s southern desert has increasingly become a hideout for foreign rebel groups that stand accused of stoking growing insecurity.\u201cKidnapping, theft and banditry have multiplied\u201d in the region, said Ali Akri Molia, commander of a unit responsible for protecting oil installations in the Oubari area…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":20256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}