150 dead in Libyan tribal clashes reveal vacuum in authority - 4/1/12



Libya's interim government says a ceasefire has been reached in a six-day conflict between two tribes that has claimed some 150 lives in the southern city of Sabha. However, the violence reveals the government's tenuous grasp in the country.
Residents of the oasis say that the rivalry burst into open conflict Monday after a Tubu shot a member of the Arab Abu Seif tribe. Further aggravating the conflict, a delegation of Tubu elders and armed men heading to reconciliation talks were ambushed. The violence escalated as more and more families were dragged into a deadly blood feud that killed almost 150 people. In addition to the dead, more than four hundred have been injured, overwhelming local hospitals.
Sabha residents say the two groups exchanged fire with automatic rifles, mortars, and rockets. Tubu tribal spokesman Mohammed Lino said some 70 Tubu homes were torched and 100 families were forced to flee the city during the past week of violence.
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