LIBYA: Interim authorities start reconciliation talks with the country's Tuareg nomadic tribes, who are considered of vital importance to regional security in Libya's oil-rich south
Record ID:
344090
LIBYA: Interim authorities start reconciliation talks with the country's Tuareg nomadic tribes, who are considered of vital importance to regional security in Libya's oil-rich south
- Title: LIBYA: Interim authorities start reconciliation talks with the country's Tuareg nomadic tribes, who are considered of vital importance to regional security in Libya's oil-rich south
- Date: 8th November 2011
- Summary: OBARI, LIBYA (RECENT) (REUTERS) AERIAL VIEW OF DESERT VARIOUS OF DELEGATION FROM NATIONAL TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL (NTC) ARRIVING AND BEING GREETED BY ZINTAN BRIGADE NTC CONVOY DRIVING TO FORMER HOME OF MUAMMAR GADDAFI FOR MEETING WITH TUAREG AND ZINTAN BRIGADES ENTRANCE TO GADDAFI'S FORMER HOME NTC FIGHTERS AT GADDAFI HOUSE CONVOY OF CARS ARRIVING VARIOUS OF TUAREG BRIGADE SEATED FOR MEETING WITH NTC AND ZINTAN BRIGADES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED TUAREG TRIBE LEADER, SAYING "You were saying that Gaddafi was hiding with the Tuareg tribe in the desert and he turned out to be with you in Sirte." VARIOUS OF DESERT AREA OVERLOOKING OBARI (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED NTC FIGHTER, SAYING "I'm here as a member of the convoy that is comprised of the head of the army and the national army who are here with the purpose of making peace with our brothers, the Zintan and the Tuareg. They were able to reach a peaceful solution in a civilized manner." SIGN FOR AKAKUS OIL INSTILLATION VIEW OF AREA NEAR OIL FIELD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED OIL FIELD WORKER, SAYING: "There were a few simple things stolen, but nothing serious. As far as the mechanics and the equipment, they are working fine and there is no problem with them." VIEW OF AKUKUS OIL INSTILLATION FIRE TRUCK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ZINTAN BRIGADE COMMANDER, BADAWI, SAYING: "After we heard that the (Gaddafi) brigades had left the field, we liberated Zintan and northern Libya. We, the Zintan fighters, moved to southern Libya under the leadership of Waleed Ahmed al-Rammah, in order to protect the oil field. We protected the oil field and we started retrieving the equipment - cars and generators - which are responsible for supplying electricity to Zawiya and Melita, we brought back the stolen items from Obari and the valley." VARIOUS OF FLARES BURNING AT OIL FIELD
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Libya, Libya
- Country: Libya
- Topics: Politics,Energy
- Reuters ID: LVAA4XO8KP42V6WMEBHUG3LZ4S1D
- Story Text: Tensions run high in Libya's southern Sahara where many Tuareg nomad tribes, who roam the desert spanning the borders of Libya and its neighbours, backed Muammar Gaddafi late in the war which toppled the leader of 42 years.
Arab fighters from Zintan, a town that prides itself on the speed at which its inhabitants turned on Gaddafi in the revolution and the voracity of its fighters, have occupied the area for months and say they are here to disarm the Tuareg, mediate disputes and reconcile the region with Libya's interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), based in the north.
In a recent meeting at a compound that used to be Gaddafi's private retreat outside the southern desert town of Obari, Zintan fighters and a civil and military delegation from the capital of Tripoli came together for reconciliation talks considered vital to regional security.
In a blur of flowing robes, Tuareg tribesmen sat in Gaddafi's living room and discussed their concerns with the country's new rulers.
A Tuareg man was recently shot dead by a Zintani, but few are willing to speak of details and mediation is held behind closed doors -- tribal feuds can spiral into further violence.
"You were saying that Gaddafi was hiding with the Tuareg tribe in the desert and he turned out to be with you in Sirte," an unidentified Tuareg fighters said at the meeting.
The NTC seems determined to engage Tuareg tribesmen in negotiations and say talks will ensure the revolution has fully arrived.
"I'm here as a member of the convoy that is comprised of the head of the army and the national army who are here with the purpose of making peace with our brothers, the Zintan and the Tuareg," a member of the NTC delegation told Reuters.
Gaddafi won the loyalty of many Tuareg after supporting their 1970s rebellion against the governments of Mali and Niger -- where there are large populations of Tuareg and later allowing more than 100,000 to settle in southern Libya.
The tribes are important to regional security because the Tuareg have huge influence in the vast, empty desert expanses which are often exploited by drug traffickers and Islamist militants as a safe haven for their operations.
Porous borders, discontent and availability of arms makes this region a potential hotspot for an armed challenge to the interim government.
But the Tuareg say they are the victims of bad press, named as Gaddafi mercenaries because he used black Africans to fight in the north and accused of giving shelter to Gaddafi's family and his loyalists - a claim that many in the north uphold, including the prime minister of the interim government.
The Sabha region, deep in the North African state's Sahara desert, was one of the last bastions of Gaddafi in Libya and was only fully taken over by forces loyal to the NTC a month after he was toppled.
There were reports that Gaddafi himself was hiding in the town before he was killed in his northern hometown of Sirte last month and his most politically prominent son, Saif al-Islam, is suspected to have travelled through the area to escape Libya. NTC forces suspect many pro-Gaddafi fighters have also sought refuge here.
The Zintani fighters are acting as a pseudo-security force in the region and say they are enforcing the law.
At the Akakus Oil Field 60 kilometres from Obari, Zintani fighters are positioned around the main facility, armed with heavy machine guns and rockets.
"After we heard that the (Gaddafi) brigades had left the field, we liberated Zintan and northern Libya. We, the Zintan fighters, moved to southern Libya under the leadership of Waleed Ahmed al-Rammah, in order to protect the oil field," said Badawi, a Zintan fighter protecting the oil field.
"We protected the oil field and we started retrieving the equipment - cars and generators - which are responsible for supplying electricity to Zawiya and Melita, we brought back the stolen items from Obari and the valley," added Badawi.
The field has not been raided since the looting last month and is now operational.
The field, partly run by the Spanish oil company Repsol, pumps oil through a subterranean pipeline 700 kilometres north to the coast where it is distributed to Europe. Repsol started shutting down operations and evacuating staff from Libya when the uprising began in February and only recently reopened the field.
Akakus is now extracting 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and full production is around 350,000 bpd, engineers at the site said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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