Sabha

This article covers the Libyan town of Sabha. For the Malaysian state, see Sabah .

Arabic سبها Sabha
Sabha
Coordinates	27 ° 2 ′  N , 14 ° 25 ′  E Coordinates: 27 ° 2 ′  N , 14 ° 25 ′  E
Basic data
Country	Libya
Shaʿbiyya	Sabha
height	425 m
Residents	116,016 (2012)

Sabha (also Sebha ; Arabic سبها, DMG Sabhā ) is a city in Libya with around 94,000 inhabitants (calculation for 2012) and the new political and economic center of Fezzan . Sabha is located in the municipality of the same name , of which it is the capital.

history

The oasis basin around Sabha was an old center of the caravan and (until around 1860) slave trade. Sabha grew out of the three villages of al-Dschedid, al-Gorda and al-Hajara to form today's city, after the center of Fezzan was relocated from Murzuk to Sabha during the Italian rule . The descendants of the black slaves, however, lived strictly separated from the Berbers.

The Italian fort of Sabha (Sebha) on a postage stamp from the French military territory of Fessan-Ghadames during the post-WWII occupation

During the Africa campaign in World War II, the Italian Africa Corps had to capitulate on January 8, 1943 to the troops of Free France under General Leclerc . Until the independence of Libya in 1951, the city belonged to the French military territory of Fezzan.

During the 2011 civil war , Sabha was permanently under the control of former ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi . He had attended the Sharia Mohammed Megharief school and was expelled from it, presumably because he had organized demonstrations against the inaction of the Libyan government during the invasion of the colonial powers in the Suez crisis in 1956. After the capital Tripoli fell under rebel control in August 2011, Sabha, Sirte and Bani Walid were the last three major cities where soldiers loyal to Gaddafi refused to lay down their arms. They were given a week-long ultimatum (which was due to expire on September 3 and extended to September 10) to peacefully surrender the sites and drop their weapons. Negotiations with local tribal leaders remained fruitless. The fighters loyal to Gaddafi let the ultimatum pass after the negotiations had broken off. On September 13, 2011, fighters from the National Transitional Council began attacking the city with NATO air support. On September 20, the rebels reported the capture of the airport and the garrison. On September 22, 2011, various media reported about the capture of Sabha. One day later, thousands of barrels of uranium-containing powder known as " yellowcake " were seized from a military base near the city . It is a naturally occurring substance that, after many processing steps, can be used to make nuclear fuel or for atomic bombs.

At the end of March 2012, fighting between members of the black African Tubu and Arab tribes from Sabha took place in and around Sabha. In the 1980s, Gaddafi began a campaign to relocate Arab tribes to the south under the postulate of "Arabization". This resulted in marginalization and discrimination against the Tubu, who are struggling to be recognized as Libyan citizens. Their number in Fessan is estimated at 350,000 to 400,000.

About half of the sub-Saharan migrants pass through the city on their way to the Mediterranean Sea. Today it has the reputation of being a modern center of the slave trade again.

traffic

Sabha Airport, which is used for civil and military purposes, is located on the south-eastern outskirts.

Climate table

Sabha
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     2   19th 5     1   22nd 7th     0   26th 10     0   31 15th     2   35 20th     0   39 23     0   38 23     0   38 23     0   36 21st     0   31 17th     1   26th 11     0   20th 6th Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: wetterkontor.de

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Sabha Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 18.8 22.0 26.1 31.1 35.4 38.9 38.1 37.9 35.9 31.2 25.6 19.9 O 30.1 Min. Temperature (° C) 4.5 7.0 10.2 15.3 19.7 23.2 22.7 22.5 21.4 16.8 10.9 5.8 O 15th Precipitation ( mm ) 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Σ 6th Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 8.5 9.1 8.8 8.9 10.1 11.4 12.2 11.7 9.5 9.2 8.5 7.8 O 9.6 Humidity ( % ) 42 37 31 22nd 27 27 32 30th 27 29 38 40 O 31.8 Source: wetterkontor.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Libya: Districts & Major Cities - Population Statistics in Maps and Charts. Retrieved February 25, 2019 . 
2. ^ John Ralph Willis: Slaves and Slavery in Africa: Volume Two: The Servile Estate. Routledge, p. 63 ff.
3. ↑ Anthony Ham: Libia. Lonely Planet, EDT srl, 2007 (Italian), p. 180.
4. ↑ Ghadhafi general caught on the run. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . September 20, 2011, accessed September 20, 2011 . 
5. ↑ Report: Libyan rebels find Qaddafi's yellowcake uranium (CBS News)
6. ↑ Report: IAEA investigates uranium discovery in Libya (Spiegel Online)
7. ↑ Tribal fighting in southern Libya: At least 70 dead. In: ORF . March 28, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2012 . 
8. ^ The situation of the Tubu in and around Sabha Source: FAZ, accessed on May 22, 2013
9. ↑ Phil Hoad: Sabha in the spotlight: the city where migrants are sold as slaves on theguardian.com, June 19, 2017.