In Libya, rebels still dominate Tripoli streets

Tripoli, Libya — Despite repeated pledges by Libya’s transitional government to find jobs for the rebel fighters who forced Moammar Gaddafi from power, tens of thousands of them are still operating in armed militia groups, patrolling streets and guarding buildings in Tripoli and other cities.

The fighters’ presence adds to an atmosphere of insecurity, officials and ordinary Libyans say, as efforts to incorporate more than 50,000 fighters into Defense and Interior Ministry forces has lagged. Authorities say the presence of the irregular forces has made it difficult to distinguish between legitimate fighters and criminals, thousands of whom were freed by rebel forces and by Gaddafi during the months of fighting that eventually toppled the autocratic leader.

Loading...

Comments

• Weigh In
• Corrections?

Adding to the problem, many of the fighters say they will respect only an elected government and do not recognize the unelected transitional government.

With only the barest of police forces and only an embryonic army in place, fighting sometimes breaks out among the heavily armed men.

“There is no safety,” said Amal, a teacher who declined to give her last name, who was shopping in the capital. “There are fights between one area and another,” she added, describing how violence can quickly escalate when fighters occasionally turn to the heavy artillery they acquired during the war.

For the most part, orderly

After the liberation of the Libyan capital in August by a wave of NATO-backed revolutionary fighters, there was chaos, electricity and water shortages, and fighting in the streets. In some ways, life since then seems to have returned to normal, with shops and cafes open late, far fewer security checkpoints, and the rattle of celebratory gunfire largely silenced.

The unwelcome presence of fighters from outside the city has mostly ended, and heavy weapons are rarely visible in the streets. The revolutionary fighters who remain are, for the most part, organized and orderly, patrolling alongside a rudimentary police force or guarding banks, hotels and government buildings, despite rarely being paid. Different militias control different areas of the city, but the fighters say they coordinate with one another and with authorities to provide security.

Although overall violence has lessened, there were clashes in central Tripoli between local brigades and fighters from the city of Misurata on Jan. 3. Several people reportedly died. Fighting also flared up south of the capital Jan. 13, when one tribal militia charged another with harboring Gaddafi loyalists.

This week, there has been fighting in the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid between residents and rebel militias, Ian Martin, the head of the U.N. mission in the country,told a meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday.

“Although authorities have successfully contained these and other more minor incidents that continue to take place across the country on a regular basis, there is the ever-present possibility that similar outbreaks of violence could escalate and widen in scope,” Martin said.