TARHUNA, Libya – Hard to find a clearer illustration of the defeat of Libya’s political leaders than Tarhuna, a town between the Mediterranean coast and the desert, where seven brothers from their families The Kani family and their militia were imprisoned, tortured, and killed hundreds of residents during a reign of terror that lasted five years.
Two years after their grip was broken, Tarhuna is still searching for the bodies. Its famous olive oil-producing rolling forests now hide mass graves. Some families lack half a dozen members or more. Others say they learned the fate of their loved ones from former prisoners or other witnesses: an uncle was thrown to the Kani brothers’ pet lion; a cousin was buried alive.
Clothes are still strewn on the ground outside a makeshift sunbathing prison, where the brothers’ militia keep prisoners in oven-like cabinets that fit a crouched man.
“We will continue when we have justice and they pay for their crimes,” said Kalthoum el-Hebshi, head of a nursing school in Tarhuna. “Until then, there will be no reconciliation,” she added. “When you say to me, ‘make peace,’ how can I make peace with someone with blood on their hands? How can I shake his hand? “
After more than one brittle stable yearLibya once again leans towards chaos that destroyed it after rebels overthrow Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, dictator of more than 40 years, during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. The upheaval that split the North African country in half, east and west, was created by two opposing governments. enemy and dozens of rival militias operating within the boundaries of the law.
Last year, a period of relative peace offered a glimmer of hope. Elections scheduled for December are supposed to create a government that can unify Libya’s long-divided institutions, according to the Constitution, disarm the militia and expel foreign fighters. But disagreements about eligibility missed the votebringing a country on Europe’s doorstep into a new phase of uncertainty.
The turmoil has also made justice elusive in Tarhuna, where the leaders of both factions dividing Libya have been implicated in the rise of the Kani.
Hamza el-Kanouni, 39, whose uncle was killed by the Kani people and whose cousin was held in Kani prison for three months, said: “Everyone at the scene only cared about their own interests. . “They don’t even see Libya.”
The brothers left graves containing hundreds of bodies, according to a United Nations panel. recently identified several new burial sites in Tarhuna. Libyan investigators say they have found nearly 250 bodies so far, and have identified about 60%.
But 470 families have reported missing loved ones, so the number is almost certainly much higher, according to Kamal Abubaker, a DNA expert overseeing the search and identification efforts.
Ms el-Hebshi, a retired nursing school principal, said her eldest son was kidnapped in 2011 for supporting anti-Qaddafi rebels. Her brother disappeared after the uprising, and her second son was kidnapped by the Kani.
No bodies have been found, and she continues to hope with the hope, she said, that they will rise again in some remote prison.
Kanis’ murderous streak began in the midst of the 2011 uprising, when they took advantage of the anarchy to settle scores with rivals and entrench themselves in Tarhuna, a town of about 70,000 people. The residents said they built their power and wealth through smuggling and extortion.
By 2016, they were allied with the internationally backed government in Tripoli, which paid them to run security. Three years later, a new civil war broke out when Khalifa Hifter, the leader of eastern Libya, attack Tripoli.
The Kanis family moved to Mr. Hifter’s camp. But all the while, no matter which side they took, the killings continued, residents said.
When Tripoli government troops defeated Mr. Hifter with Turkish support in 2020, they expelled the Kani from Tarhuna.
Now the town wants justice.
But the government in Libya was paralyzed. After funding was cut, Tarhuna’s efforts to discover and identify the dead came to a near standstill. The country is not divided by religion or ideology. But a host of other obstacles stand in the way of progress: the interference of foreign powers including Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt, who award to Libya for its strategic location and oil reserves; the need for east-west reconciliation after the recent fighting; and political leaders show little interest in resolving the crisis unless it benefits them.
“For now, there is no clear path other than the stalemate and continued instability,” said Wolfram Lacher, a Libya expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “Everything is total opportunism. It’s just about fixing positions and funds. “
With UN-brokered talks in Cairo and Geneva earlier this year making no progress, Libya there are two rival prime ministers: Abdul Hamid Dbeiba lives in the West and Fathi Bashagha in the East, led by Mr. Hifter selection.
Mr. Hifter was widely criticized in western Libya for the attack in Tripoli, in which Libyans accused him of bombing residential areas and torturing and killing civilians. A U.S. federal judge issued a default judgment against him on Friday after he repeatedly ignored deposits for a federal lawsuit in which Libyan plaintiffs allege he war crimes.
But many Libyans reject both eastern and western leaders.
“We don’t want anyone to come first,” said Anwar Sawon, a local leader from Misurata city who fought in the 2011 uprising. “We just want new faces. People who just want to serve the people.”
After a year in which many people in Tripoli have grown accustomed to safe, well-kept streets with working street lights, basic services are back up and running.
Hundreds of people across the country recently objected about the worsening situation, burning part of the Parliament building in the east out of anger at the 18-hour power cut and self-interested politicians.
Halima Ahmed, 30, a law lecturer at Sabha University in the southern desert of Libya, said: “The needs of the people are very small, just the basics – no more power cuts, food is always available. “. “Our dream in the revolution is, we want to be like Dubai. Now we just want stability.”
After the Kani fell in Tarhuna, about 16,000 people fled, including Kani supporters, militiamen, and the five Kani brothers who survived the explosive battle surrounding the assault on Tripoli.
Now many of them want to come back.
In the absence of help from national leaders, an informal group of tribal elders from across the country joined in to help resettle the exiles. It’s part of their longtime work as mediators of disputes: tribal conflicts over property lines that lead to kidnapping and murder; Individual spats create a killing cycle.
Elders from tribes with no connection to either party will listen to both sides, assign responsibility and broker an agreement, which may involve compensation, formal apologies and swear not to repeat the crime.
Nothing is legally binding, but settlements are generally respected by mediators. Mediators say that those who violate their word will be excluded from the unwritten treaty that governs much of Libyan society: The next time they get involved in a dispute, no one will interfere.
Tarhuna’s victims do not see mediations as a substitute for a working justice system. Some of them said they had repeatedly tried to reach the police because they did not want to resort to revenge killings, but the officials did nothing.
However, in a country where the people with power, money and weapons don’t answer to anyone, mediators are all they have.
“We don’t have the law in our hands. The only thing we can do is give our tribute,” said Ali Agouri, 68, a tribal representative who has worked on reconciliation in Tarhuna. “There is no state, but the people want justice.”
