Police station in Derj attacked

Tripoli, 12 December:

The local police station in Derj, east of Ghadames, was attacked yesterday, Tuesday, by unknown assailants.

A local police official said three vehicles were stolen as well as a number of light weapons.

There has been continued unrest in the area over the continuing unresolved issue of the Tuareg community forced out of Ghadames last year amid accusations that it had backed Qaddafi during the revolution.  There have been numerous attempts to negotiate a settlement since, most recently three months ago when Mustafa Abushagur, then prime minister-elect, met in Tripoli with a delegation of Tuaregs from the Ghadames area.

Proposals have ranged from allowing the Tuareg to return to their homes in Ghadames to creating a new town for them between it and Derj.  There is opposition from within both the local Arab and Tuareg communities to both ideas.

In May, there were violent clashes in Ghadames in which nine people died, eight of them Tuaregs, when a government delegation led by the then NTC spokesman Mohammed Al-Hareizi tried in vain to mediate a settlement between the two sides. The government had to send in 400 extra troops to keep the peace.

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