Libya's Constitutional Drafting Assembly holding meetings in Oman

The Libyan Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDA) has already held two meetings in the city of Salalah, Oman. The most recent meeting concentrated on efforts to end the boycott of the CDA by members from the Tebu and Tuareg tribes.

The two Tebu and two Tuareg members walked out of the CDA last August after complaining that the Committee refused to take into account rights of Libyan minorities. However, they attended the most recent meeting. The Special Representative of the Secretary General, Martin Kobler, also attended the meeting. No one attended from Oman as officials did not want to interfere in Libyan affairs. Kobler tweeted:“Listening to Tebu and Twareg @CDALibya. Protection of rights is absolute must. Constitution must satisfy all.” Kobler said he was also encouraged by the spirit of compromise among those at the meeting. Kobler said that the mission of the UN in Libya is not to intervene in the political issues but to support by providing technical advice.

Kobler thought the meeting important enough to issue a short press release on the UNSMIL site. The meeting was designed to discuss constitutional issues that had yet to be solved. As usual any negative aspects of what has been happening with the CDA are completely ignored. For example, the head of the CDA, Ali Al-Tourani, who has dual American and Libyan citizenship,was disqualified from his position after some members of the CDA brought a suit against him resulting in a court decision that he did not qualify for the position.

There are also 11 members, mostly from western areas of Libya, who were not present at meetings. They are boycotting the meetings because they object to the manner in which jobs and positions are being divided on the basis of a third each to the three traditional divisions,Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan. Tripolitania in the west contains two-thirds of Libya's population and the boycotters think this should be reflected in the division of jobs. The boycotting members have other objections as well. Members of the judiciary have protested against the draft constitution, complaining that the group refused to enshrine independence of the judiciary in the draft as they recommended.

Articles to be included in the draft constitution must be approved by a vote of two-thirds plus one or 41 votes. There are only 33 members in the sessions in Oman according to the Libya Herald. There are not enough to pass any articles. There are only 41 members altogether taking part in CDA proceedings. In other words they need all to be present and all vote in favor of any article for it to be adopted. A number of members of the CDA refused to travel to Oman. They said the discussions could have taken place in Libya just as easily. None of this is mentioned in Kobler's press release. The Gulf News claims that 56 of 60 members of the CDA attended the first meeting on Saturday. This conflicts with other sources and makes no sense when there are 11 boycotters plus a number of members who objected to meeting in Oman and refused to go.

Southern Libya Tuareg and Tebu tribes agree to ceasefire

After a conflict that has lasted over a year, the Tebu and Tuareg tribes that control territory in the south of Libya have signed a ceasefire. Much of the conflict has been in the southern city of Obari.

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The deal was worked out with Qatar acting as mediator and was signed in Doha, Qatar on November 23. There will be an immediate ceasefire and thousands of people displaced during the conflict will be able to return. In July of this year, the battle between the two tribes reached into Sebha or Sabha, the largest city in the south, causing hundreds to flee their homes. An attempt to negotiate a truce in September failed due to violations of the ceasefire. More details are given at the usually pro-HoR Libya Herald. The Herald expresses scepticism about the present ceasefire as well.

The Toubou or Tebu are a group of Berbers. They live primarily in northern Chad, but there are also significant numbers in southern Libya, and some also in Southern Sudan and Niger. The group were discriminated against during the Gadaffi regime and fought with other rebels against him. The Tuareg are also a Berber nomadic group who live mostly in Niger and Mali. They often are in conflict with governments as they seek autonomy. At one time they controlled much of northern Mali. There are a significant number of Tuareg in the south western part of Libya. The group being nomadic, as are the Tebu, they often move from one country to another.

The Tuareg representative, Mustafa Salem, said to an Al-Jazeera reporter:"Signing this deal means the start of the construction and development period, and reconciliation. After 14 months of war, I think all of us are convinced that no one has interest in war.There are fingers of regional powers and competing political orientations and ideologies...it is not a merely tribal conflict."The Tripoli-based General National Congress(GNC) applauded the ceasefire and thanked Qatar in its role as mediator. The GNC saw the agreement as a move towards reconciliation in the whole of southern Libya.

Youssef Cherif, a political analyst based in Tunis, claimed the situation remains fragile:"While the Tripoli government welcomes the news, [on] the other side - the [UN-recognised] Tobruk government and Khalifa Haftar - there is a lot of criticism." Khalifa Haftar is the commander of the armed forces of the internationally-recognized House of Representatives(HoR) based in Tobruk. The GNC has often accused Haftar of fomenting strife in southern Libya to gain control of the area for groups favourable to the HoR and himself.

Tribal clashes hit southern Libyan city of Sabha

While much of Libya is divided up into areas controlled by the rival governments in Tripoli and Tobruk, some parts of the south are still controlled by tribal groups who often clash with each other.

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In southern Libya, the largest city of Sabha has seen fighting break out between members of the Tuareg and Tebu tribes for control of the key city. According to the city's mayor, Hamed al-Khayali, the conflict began in a suburb four days ago after a member of the Tebu tribe was killed at a checkpoint. He said that in all around 29 members of the Tuareg tribe were killed and four more wounded in the clashes. A local Tebu official said eight Tebu were killed and 18 wounded. The mayor said attempts to negotiate a truce had failed. The Tuareg are also active in northern Mali.

While Sabha is nominally under the control of the Tripoli government, military officials in Tripoli did not respond to a request for help to restore order in the city. The Tuareg control much of south-western Libya. The Tuareg were supporters of Gadaffi when he was in power and there were clashes between the two groups then, but Gadaffi was able to keep a semblance of order in the area compared to the present situation. There have been shortages of many supplies developing in the south as the two rival governments compete with each other and fight with Islamic State militants as well. Flights from Tripoli have been cancelled.

Sabha is about 700 km south of Tripoli. The Tripoli government is not recognized internationally but controls the capital and much of western Libya.

There were also clashes near the city of Derna on the coast in eastern Libya. The Islamic State has been driven out of the city by an umbrella group of rival jihadists. However the Islamic State still occupies mountainous areas near the city. A spokesperson for the military of the Tobruk government that controls most of the surrounding area said that three IS fighters had been killed in clashes with its troops.