TRIPOLI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - At least three people have
been killed in clashes between rival tribes over control of
territory in the far southeast of Libya, a security official
said on Monday, highlighting the challenge of policing the
country's sparsely populated desert.
Violence broke out on Sunday in the remote southeastern
province of Al Kufra and continued into Monday.
Local gunmen clashed with fighters from the Tibu ethnic
group led by Isa Abdel Majid, whom the locals accuse of bringing
in people from neighbouring Chad and trying to base them in a
nearby oasis, Abdelbari Idriss, the security official, told
Reuters from Al Kufra.
Abdel Majid's men had set up camp in the town of Jalu on
Sunday night and were holding out there, Idriss said. It was not
immediately possible to contact Abdel Majid, who supported the
Libyan rebels during the 2011 uprising, nor to obtain further
details about the clashes. The Tibu are mainly found in northern
Chad but also inhabit parts of southern Libya, Sudan and Niger.
In Al Kufra, tribal ties are far more powerful than they are
on the country's Mediterranean seaboard. A tribal rebellion in
2009 was suppressed only after Muammar Gaddafi sent in
helicopter gunships, while in 2011, Sudan sent in weapons to
help Libyan rebels wrest control of the area.
The remote region is also a hub for smugglers crisscrossing
the borders of sub-Saharan Africa. Al Kufra is closer to the
Sudanese capital Khartoum than it is to Tripoli.
Libya's National Transitional Council has struggled to
assert its authority as rival regional militias and tribal
groups jostle for power and resources following the fall of
Gaddafi.
(Reporting by Ali Shuaib; Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by
Giles Elgood)
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