The recent violent clashes that took place in the western city of Zawiya was aimed at disrupting the upcoming elections, claims Libyan analyst Mohamed Eljarh.
This particular round of violence between Libyan armed groups, which led to sever damages to the city’s oil refinery, was an attempt to “spoil the elections by any means”, Eljarh said via Twitter.
“This month witnessed the leaking of a call between Dbaiba’s communications minister Walid al-Lafi and militia leader Mahmoud Bin Rajab,” he pointed out. “During the call, Walid al-Lafi was urging Bin Rajab to utilize his networks to spark violence in order to spoil elections.”
“As I mentioned a few months ago, the city of Zawiya emerged as a key political/armed actor following the 2019 war in Tripoli,” he explained. “Zawiya as Libya‘s 4th largest city is being used as the spark for violent efforts to prevent/delay elections.”
“In addition to Walid al-Lafi (Dbaiba’s communications wizard) and Mahmoud Bin Rajab, key individuals to pay attention to that are part of this violent effort to disrupt progress towards elex incl: former MoD Salah Namroush, Khalid Mashri, & Mohamed Bahroun (al-Far),” he added.
“Although sanctions have had a limited impact on events in Libya through the years, I think now is the right time to utilize this tool against spoilers who will stop at nothing including violence in a bid to delay the Dec. elections or prevent them from happening altogether,” Eljarh said.
The Libyan analyst also called on the United States, Germany, France and the European Union to pay attention to the recent violence and act.
#Thread on efforts to spoil the elections by any means including violence by certain actors. This is in light of the destructive clashes in Zawiya that severely damaged the refinery. @USAEmbassyLibya @AmbaFranceLibye, @GermanAmbLBY @EUinLibya @UNSMILibya must pay attention + act.
— Mohamed Eljarh (@Eljarh) October 27, 2021