Mohamad Ellafi -
In the southern Libyan city of Oubari, shops are shuttered and tension is palpable, as residents fear an imminent incursion by forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar.
We “dread the repercussions of military operations that are unfolding on the edge of town”, said 22-year-old hospital administrator Ali Senoussi, speaking on behalf of his Tubu community. Many residents in Oubari — some 900 kilometres south of Tripoli — are Tubu.
The ethnic group fears vengeance by Arab communities that have joined an offensive by Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), which is on the outskirts of the city.
Long marginalised, Tubus live in the Tibesti region, which straddles Libya, Chad and Niger, an area long at the mercy of roaming rebel groups, traffickers and extremists.
“We are residents of this region. Our support and love for it is immense”, said 22-year-old Senoussi, clothed in a traditional head robe to screen desert sun and wind. “We cannot accept being involved in wars with Arab tribes that fight alongside Haftar”, he insisted, sipping tea in the courtyard of a hospital where he works as an administrator.
The LNA says it is seeking to purge “terrorist and criminal groups”, and some accuse the Tubus of supporting Chadian rebels.
But Senoussi dismisses the offensive as “a threat to the social peace of the whole region”. Tubu lawmakers even allege that ethnic cleansing is under way.
The community was among the first to join the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed Muammar Gaddafi. But the former ruler’s downfall by no means improved Tubus’ standing in Libya.
Despite being home to some of the country’s biggest oilfields, the region is regularly hit by shortages of all kinds — petrol, electricity, gas cylinders and even bread. Prices have rocketed on the black market. Senoussi said the lack of fuel had forced him to leave his car at home and walk to work.
“Most public sector workers prefer to walk” to avoid long queues that have become a fixture of daily life at gas stations, he said.
The intensified chaos of recent years means that the southern border areas are more than ever a haven for extremists, traffickers and rebels. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
