By Jamal Adel.
Kufra, 18 October 2014:
There have been fresh clashes in Obari between the largely Tebu-manned joint security room and the . . .[restrict]Tuareg militia linked to Dawn Operation that has been at the centre of recent unrest in the town. Fighting started yesterday leaving one person dead and three injured.
“Clashes were renewed yesterday evening between the Tebus and Tuaregs,” the spokesman for the local joint security room, Bashir Al-Mabrouk Younis, told the Libya Herald. He claimed the Tuaregs had attacked and that there had been no provocation from his forces’ side.
According to Obari locals, the fighting intensified today, with missiles and heavy artillery being used.
Armed fighting erupted in Obari on 17 September between the local Tebu joint-security room and pro-Dawn Tuareg forces from outwith the area, but mediators from Zintan, Wadi Al-Shatti and nearby towns mediated a relative peace in the town. It almost collapsed, but at the beginning of October the two sides agreed to form an joint force to maintain peace in the town and avoid further clashes.
However, sporadic shooting and sniping have continued. “Yesterday’s clashes left one dead and three injured,” Younis explained.
Obari, in south-west Libya, has a majority Tuareg population. Tebus account for about a quarter of the residents. Until the clashes, there had been no problems between local Tebus and Tuaregs. A number of Obari Tuaregs are reported to have joined Khalifa Hafter’s Operation Dignity forces. [/restrict]
