The latest of several ceasefires in the Southern Libyan region around Sabha appears to be holding today, capping a week of ugly tribal violence in the city that had tribesmen threatening secession.
The Libyan Health Ministry has put the confirmed death toll at 147, though other reports have put the toll somewhat higher and it is likely to continue to rise. Nearly 400 were also reported wounded in the fighting.
The fighting was chiefly between the Tabu tribe and Arab militias from the city, and started after a Tabu tribesman killed an Abu Seif tribesman in a dispute over a car.
This was just one front in the Tabu fighting in the far south, and had the tribal leadership claiming an Arab campaign of “ethnic cleansing” and calling for European Union intervention to carve out an independent Tabu homeland.
More bad news from Libya, the forgotten battlefield. So are things truly improving in Libya now? Have the western countries returned the billions of dollars they seized? Was our spending of billions worth every penny? Are the Libyan people happier and freer? I venture a guess of no to all the questions. And now, the talking heads are taking about Syria. If Syria had the oil fields of Libya, talking would have been over months ago…and we'd probably be in an intractable war for years to come.