Ceasefire deal ends 4 days of tribal clashes in Libya

By Saifuddin al-Trabulsi

TRIPOLI, Libya

Tribes of Libya’s northwestern city of Zawiya late Monday signed a ceasefire agreement following four days of clashes between two local tribes, tribal sources in Zawiya told Anadolu Agency.

"The agreement pertains to all tribes in the city, including the two warring tribes," the sources, who spoke anonymously due to security concerns, said.

The agreement, the same sources added, calls for a "withdrawal of all military vehicles from the streets of the city" and the "extradition of wanted persons from the two disputant tribes to a neutral third party".

The source declined to identify the "neutral third party" to which the agreement referred.

Last Friday, armed clashes erupted in Zawiya between the local Awlad Saqr and Awlad Hunaysh tribes.

Clashes continued intermittently until the ceasefire agreement was signed Monday evening, local sources based in the city told Anadolu Agency.

According to these local sources, clashes began after the Awlad Saqr tribe accused members of the Awlad Hunaysh tribe of killing three fellow tribesmen in Zawiya’s Sayyad district.

The same sources asserted that the tribal clashes had featured the use of heavy and medium weapons and had led to the temporary displacement of numerous city residents.

"The clashes were the result of longstanding rivalries [between the two tribes] that finally exploded," Zawiya Mayor Abdul Karim al-Obah told local media earlier.

"In the wake of the clashes, the Libyan Red Crescent recovered the bodies of five armed tribesmen," Red Crescent coordinator Muhannad Karema told Anadolu Agency.

In a Monday statement, UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler voiced concern about the violence in Zawiya, calling on the warring parties to immediately halt all acts of violence.

Libya has been locked in a state of violence and turmoil since 2011, when a bloody popular uprising ended with the ouster and death of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

The troubled North African country, meanwhile, is reportedly awash with guns. According to some estimates, there are at least 26 million guns in Libya, the population of which now stands at some 6 million.