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| Africa North |
| Libyan Rivals Clash in Neglected South |
| 2017-04-15 |
| [An Nahar] Libya's southern desert, long neglected by central authorities, risks becoming an arena for score-settling between rival governments vying for clout across the war-torn country, analysts say. Clashes erupted last week as forces loyal to Libya's eastern authorities battled to seize a key southern airbase from militias that back a United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... -endorsed unity government. The offensive by the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) commanded by military strongman Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... threatened to trigger a broader conflict with forces allied to the Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... -based Government of National Accord (GNA). The unity government, the rival administration in eastern Libya and their respective backers are battling for influence in the North African country which has been wracked by chaos since the fall of dictator Moamer Qadaffy in 2011. So far tensions between the two sides had been mainly limited to the country's north. But last week, the LNA launched an offensive on the Tamenhant airbase on the outskirts of the city of Sebha. The most important airbase in the south, it is a base for the "Third Force", one of several powerful pro-GNA militias from the western city of Misrata. Haftar's LNA "wants to achieve a victory in the southern region of Fezzan to boost its position & GNA is mobilising to prevent that", analyst Mohammed Eljarh of the Atlantic Council tweeted. |
| Posted by:Fred |