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2016-11-27 Africa North
Libya: Air strike on Tebu Tibesti mountain control point
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Posted by badanov 2016-11-27 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ]  Top

#1 I can find no "Kalinja gate" in the numerous maps I have of Libya. That a site somewhere south of Rabiana would be a transit point for arms from Siwa or Farafra oases in Egypt doesn't compute. Rebiana itself is a few kilometers due west of Kufra, and Um Aranib is located just east of Sebha. Thus, a check of the map indicates that someone has decided to eliminate once and for all the always unreliable ethnic Tubu from Saharan Libya.
Posted by Heriberto Greper9897 2016-11-27 07:45||   2016-11-27 07:45|| Front Page Top

#2 Interesting. In what way are they always unreliable, Heriberto Greper9897?
Posted by trailing wife 2016-11-27 07:54||   2016-11-27 07:54|| Front Page Top

#3 A quick background on the Toubou tribe.

And - why they are "unreliable":

Under Qaddafi, Arab tribes such as the Zawiyah were favored and used to control the minority groups in the South – an action that likely fostered Toubou resentment toward the Southern Arab tribes.

[T]he Tuareg and Toubou broke their long-lasting Midi Midi truce and have clashed in Ubari for strategic control of smuggling routes and the nearby El-Sharara oilfield. However, the Toubou are not exclusively at odds with the Tuareg. Economic control over vital trade routes, often doubling as smuggling routes, has caused clashes between the Toubou tribes and the Zawiyah tribe (Arab) in Kufra, as well as between the Toubou and the Awlad Sulayman tribe (Arab) in Sabha.

The awarding of Southern border control to the Toubou after the revolution likely escalated the clashes between Toubou and Arab tribes, as the revolution removed some advantages and existing power arrangements previously awarded to Arab tribes – creating a change in the Southern power dynamics. This also explains the wider range of Toubou-Arab animosities compared to Tuareg-Arab animosities.
Posted by Pappy 2016-11-27 11:13||   2016-11-27 11:13|| Front Page Top

#4 Thank you Pappy. I would only add that the Toubou (Tubu, Tebu, etc.,) served as bodyguards for King Idris at the time he was overthrown by Qaddafi in 1969. Some then served for a time as guards for Qadaffi. However, most of the Toubou -- heterodox Sufi who had been allied to Idris and the Sanoussi Brotherhood, returned to the isolated Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti of Chad. There, they were the often questionable allies of Chad's dictator Hissene Habre. In general, given their usual treachery the tough Toubou were detested by the equally tough Zaghawa of Chad and Darfur, and by the tribes of southern Libya and northern Niger.
Posted by Heriberto Greper9897 2016-11-27 19:58||   2016-11-27 19:58|| Front Page Top

#5 They're also not good candidate fodder for Islamic radicalism. That puts them in the middle of a triangle.
Posted by Pappy 2016-11-27 21:43||   2016-11-27 21:43|| Front Page Top

#6 Rantburg U -- team teaching! :-) Thank you both.
Posted by trailing wife 2016-11-27 22:14||   2016-11-27 22:14|| Front Page Top

23:56 rjschwarz
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23:03 rjschwarz
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22:27 Hupenter Greamp2628
22:14 trailing wife
22:07 warthogswife
21:48 Pappy
21:43 Pappy
21:41 Pappy
20:51 Remoteman
20:07 magpie
20:06 Heriberto Greper9897
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19:49 AlanC
19:19 Blossom Unains5562
18:41 Steven Seagal in ninja suit
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