SUMMARY
In 2011, the NTC rebel coalition staged an uprising against Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi. While the NTC successfully ousted Gaddafi, the conflict left Libya’s political and security institutions in complete disarray. The transitional government that succeeded Gaddafi failed to rebuild the destroyed military and security forces, which left most parts of the country in the hands of armed militias. The eruption of communal violence in many parts of southern Libya in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising was directly linked to the absence of functioning national security forces, which caused various tribal and ethnic groups to engage in violent competition for power and influence.
During the 2011 uprising, ethnic Toubou and Zuwaya Arab fighters had formed an alliance in order to support the NTC against Gaddafi loyalist forces. The Toubou-Zuwaya alliance was active in the Cyrenaica region, where it successfully captured the Kufrah oasis and Sarir oil fields. However, the relationship between the two groups quickly broke down after the Gaddafi loyalists had been decisively defeated in October 2011. The Toubou and Zuwaya found themselves competing for control over the Kufrah oasis - which is located along important trade- and smuggling roots – and the valuable oil infrastructure found in the region around the oasis. Fierce gun battles broke out between the two groups in February 2012, and in just over one week of fighting, more than 100 people were killed. The fighting did not stop until the Government of Libya ordered the deployment of the Libya Shield One militia – led by Wissam bin Hamid – to Kufrah in late February. However, the presence of Hamid’s militia infuriated the Toubou, who accused Libya Shield One of attacking their forces together with the Zuwaya. Heavy fighting erupted again in June, but as it pitted informally organized Toubou fighters against the formally organized Libya Shield One, these events could not be included in the UCDP data.
Following a few years of relative calm, fighting between Toubou and Zuwaya in Kufrah erupted again in May 2015. While the proximate cause for the fighting in 2015 was said to have been a clash between Toubou and Zuwaya students at the local university campus, the animosity between the groups was still fueled by the competition for power and economic assets in the region. Again, Kufrah experienced heavy battles involving light and medium weapons through the summer; the final death toll was more than 80. Even as the large scale fighting ended in September 2015, sporadic clashes regularly occur in and around Kufrah. Attempts to permanently settle the conflict between the Toubou and Zuwaya have not been successful, and the risk of renewed conflict remained high.
The non-state conflict between Toubou and Zuwaya is first included in UCDP data in 2012. In February of that year, clashes between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.
