TRIPOLI — Rival armed groups exchanged gunfire in the
Libyan
capital Saturday, killing at least one person and raising fears of all-out
conflict in a country embroiled in a grave political crisis.
اضافة اعلان
The fighting follows months of rising tensions
between two administrations vying for control of the
North African country and
its vast oil resources, the latest configuration in a complex and often violent
power struggle since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Small arms fire and explosions rocked several
districts of Tripoli overnight and into Saturday, when smoke could be seen
rising from damaged buildings.
The two rival administrations exchanged blame as
videos posted online showed burned-out cars and buildings ridden with bullet
holes, as well as a mosque and a health clinic on fire.
The UN’s Libya mission called for “an immediate
cessation of hostilities”, citing “ongoing armed clashes including
indiscriminate medium and heavy shelling in civilian-populated neighborhoods”
that it said had damaged hospitals.
The US embassy in Libya said it was “very concerned”
about the clashes.
Oussama Ali, a spokesman for
Tripoli’s ambulance
service, told Al-Ahrar television that an unknown number of civilians had been
wounded but that his service was “having difficulties moving around”.
Local media reported fatalities but no official toll
has been released.
News agency Lana said actor Mustafa Baraka had been
killed in one of the neighborhoods hit by fighting, sparking anger and mourning
on social media.
The
Government of National Unity (GNU) of Abdulhamid
Dbeibah said fighting had broken out after negotiations to avoid bloodshed in
the western city collapsed.
Dbeibah’s government, installed as part of a UN-led
peace process following a previous round of violence, is challenged by a rival
government led by former interior minister Fathi Bashagha.
Exchanging blame
Bashagha, who is backed by
Libya’s parliament and eastern-based military strongman Khalifa Haftar, says
the GNU’s mandate has expired.
But he has so far been unable to take office in
Tripoli, as Dbeibah has insisted on only handing power to an elected
government.
Dbeibah’s government accused Bashagha of “carrying
out his threats” to take control of Tripoli.
Dbeibah’s GNU said negotiations had been underway to
“hold elections at the end of the year to resolve the political crisis”, but
that Bashagha had “walked out at the last moment”.
Emadeddin Badi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic
Council, said the statement would “ring hollow”.
“It will be lost on no one that the GNU is more
concerned with entrenching itself in Tripoli than with protecting any
Tripolitan constituency,” he tweeted.
“The same is valid for the parallel government and
its allies.”
Bashagha was appointed in February by the parliament,
which was elected in 2014 and is based in the eastern city of Tobruk, but he
has been unable to impose his authority in Tripoli.
Initially ruling out the use of violence, the former
minister has since hinted that he could resort to force.
Last week, he called on “Libyan men of honor” to
drop their support for Dbeibah’s “obsolete and illegitimate” administration.
Last month, clashes between rival groups in Tripoli
left 16 people dead, including a child.
It was the deadliest violence to hit the Libyan capital
since Haftar’s attempt to seize it by force in 2019 and 2020.
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