Libyan Militias Could Throw The Country Into Civil War

Libyan Militia

Forces loyal to the Libyan National Transitional Council on Saturday entered Bani Walid in an attempt to put down clashes that had erupted in the region between militias, deepening the crisis of the north African country, which proclaimed its independence in the wake of the capture and killing of former leader Muammar al-Qaddafi in October.

Carrying anti-aircraft guns and pickup trucks, militiamen from Tripoli, Benghazi, Torbruk and Bani Walid said that they had information about the fact that some 300 people, considered war criminals, were being inside the city of Bani Walid. They threatened to attack the city, which lies 110 miles of Tripoli, if the war criminals were not brought to justice.

The situation escalates as the National Transitional Council is attempting to unite the militias and prepare elections in June, the first elections in the history of this country. Vice President Abdel Hafiz Ghoga was forced to resign his office on January 22, as people stormed his office in Benghazi.

The way things evolve compelled the newly elected authorities to delay the electoral law they were making ready. A leak of the document drafted by the NTC drew the criticism of the Libyans, who demanded that the people with more than one citizenship be denied the right to occupy offices unless they renounced the non-Libyan citizenship.

Five people lost their lives in Bani Walid on January 23, and the local police said that the deaths were triggered by local disputes, not by supporters of the former regime.

Libya went through a civil war last year, at the end of which the 43-year dictatorship of colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi ends in a bloodshed, and the dictator that wanted to be the ruler of all Africa and was preparing his hometown city Sirte for the African institutions died at the outskirts of this city in clashes with the rebels.

The heir apparent of the leader, Seif al-Islam, was captured in Bani Walid, as he was attempting to make his escape after the fall of his father. Seif al-Islam is to be judged for war crimes in Libya, but under the supervision of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.