115 dead, 383 injured as rival factions battle

TRIPOLI: Fighters loyal to the government of national reconciliation patrol a street during renewed clashes in the south of the Libyan capital Tripoli. — AFP

TRIPOLI: Half a million children are in "immediate danger" in Libya's capital Tripoli due to fighting, the United Nations children's fund UNICEF said yesterday. UNICEF said yesterday that "over 1,200 families have been displaced in the past 48 hours alone as clashes intensified in southern Tripoli". That brings the total number of people displaced by the recent fighting to over 25,000, half of whom are children, UNICEF said.

"More children are reportedly being recruited to fight, putting them in immediate danger. At least one child was killed as a result," said Geert Cappelaere, the UN agency's Middle East and North Africa director. UNICEF also said schools are increasingly being used to shelter displaced families, which is likely to delay the start of the academic year beyond October 3. It said residents are facing food, power and water shortages, adding that the clashes have exacerbated the plight of migrants. "Hundreds of detained refugees and migrants, including children, were forced to move because of violence. Others are stranded in centres in dire conditions", Cappelaere said.

Despite a UN-brokered ceasefire on September 4, fighting broke out again last week in southern districts of the capital. The clashes have pitted armed groups from Tarhuna and Misrata against Tripoli militias nominally controlled by Libya's UN-backed unity government. The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between armed groups since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in a NATO-backed 2011 uprising. The country's unity government has struggled to exert its control in the face of a multitude of militias and a rival administration based in eastern Libya.

Clashes kill 115

Meanwhile, at least 115 people have been killed and 383 injured in month-long clashes between rival factions in Tripoli, Libya's health ministry said yesterday. The fighting pitted the Seventh Brigade, or Kaniyat, from Tarhouna, a town 65 km southeast of Tripoli, against the Tripoli Revolutionaries' Brigades (TRB) and the Nawasi, two of the capital's largest armed groups. Tripoli and western Libya are run by a UN-backed government mainly supported by armed groups, while Eastern Libya is controlled by a rival administration. The country has been riven since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011.

The Kaniyat and other groups from outside Tripoli launched an assault on the capital in late August amid unease over reports of the wealth, power and extravagant lifestyles of some Tripoli militia commanders. At the Frontline in Tripoli's southern residential areas of Wadi Rabea and Fatma Zahra, shelled houses, torched vehicles, destroyed shops and deserted streets attest to the intensity of the clashes.

"The death toll could surge because of the critical condition of the injured and the continuing fighting," Wedad Abo Al-Niran, media officer at the health ministry said. The armed groups which claim official status through the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli patrol the area in armored vehicles and pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns. The fighting has knocked out most power stations in the city and crippled Tripoli's main airport. Although civilian targets continue to be shelled, Hakeem Al-Sheikh, commander of 42 Brigade loyal to GNA, said "the situation is under control."

Meanwhile residents in southern Tripoli continue to bear the brunt of the infighting, with many forced to flee their homes. "We are staying with our relatives as we are afraid of looting acts," said Abdulqader Al-Ryani, a father of three who left everything behind when he left his house. So far, calls by the GNA for all sides to uphold a ceasefire agreed on Sept 4 have fallen on deaf ears. Adding to the existing tensions, a coalition of armed groups including Misrata military council promised on Saturday to fight alongside Tarhouna's Seventh Brigade saying that they "reject the rule of militias inside Tripoli." - Agencies