Clashes that erupted late Friday in the Libyan capital Tripoli between armed groups left 32 people dead and 159 injured, according to new data released yesterday by the health ministry.
Calm has returned to Tripoli after clashes in several blocks of the Libyan capital amid political chaos in the country under two rival governments.
The Libyan Ministry of Health said on Sunday that at least 32 people were killed in clashes that raised fears of a new major conflict.
Armed groups have been exchanging fire, destroying several hospitals and setting fire to buildings since Friday evening, but there was a cautious lull on Saturday evening, according to an AFP correspondent.
The fighting comes after months of escalating tensions between supporters of Abdel Hamid Dabaiba and Fathi Bashagi, whose administrations are vying for control of the North African country that has seen more than a decade of violence since the 2011 uprising.
The Dabaiba administration, set up in the capital as part of a UN-led peace process after the end of the last major battle in 2020, has so far prevented Bashaga from taking office there.
Bashaga was appointed by the eastern Libyan parliament earlier this year and is backed by a powerful warlord in the east, Khalifa Haftar.
At first, the former interior minister ruled out the use of force to seize power in Tripoli, but recently the former interior minister threatened to use force to do so.
The UN Support Mission in Libya called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities”, expressing “deep concern at the ongoing armed clashes, including indiscriminate shelling with medium and heavy weapons, in residential areas of Tripoli.”
Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, the head of the Libyan unity government in Tripoli, released a video clip of himself among his guards saluting supporters of the militants.
The division in Libya is exacerbated by the presence of two competing governments, the first of which was formed in Tripoli as a result of a political agreement a year and a half ago, led by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba.
As for the second government, it is led by Fathi Bashaga, who was appointed by parliament in February and gained confidence in March, and is using Sirte (central) as its temporary headquarters after being prevented from entering Tripoli despite his attempt Do it in this way.
