Warfalla

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The Warfalla (also: Warfala or Warfallah ) are a tribe in Libya . It is said to have around one million members (as of February 2011) and would be one of the largest tribes in Libya. Many of the members of the tribe live in Bani Walid .

Attempted coup

Many members of the Libyan security forces belong to the Warfalla tribe. Numerous officers of the Warfalla tribe were involved in the attempted coup in 1993. They allegedly felt disadvantaged compared to Gaddafi's tribe. After its failure, many tribesmen were arrested, tortured and executed.

War in Libya 2011

At the start of the uprising in Libya in 2011, the tribal leaders are said to have announced that they would join the opponents of Muammar al-Gaddafi . According to press reports, they also convinced members of the Tuareg to take this path. Observers rated both as a decisive weakening of Gaddafi. On March 17, however, it was reported on Libyan state television that the Warfalla tribal leader had called for Gaddafi's support.

On April 27, Bernard-Henri Lévy published a statement in Paris in which leaders or representatives of 61 tribes, including the Warfalla tribe, advocate a unified, democratic Libya without al-Gaddafi. Lévy noted that although there were conflicts on the subject in some groups, the basic stance was correct. At the end of May 2011, around 100 tribal leaders, most of them Warfalla, called for an end to the fighting and the elimination of Gaddafi.

Politically uniform action by the Warfalla is unlikely, because they are more like a confederation of around 50 sub-tribes with their own leadership groups, which are spread across Libya. Their political loyalties fluctuate accordingly.

During the negotiations on a peaceful handover of Bani Walid to the rebels in early September 2011, the Warfalla tribal leaders were again unwilling to give up the city without a fight. As one of the last cities in Libya, it was under the control of troops loyal to Gaddafi. But members of the Warfalla tribe also fought among the rebel forces.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Birgit Cerha: Tuareg ride for the resistance. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . February 22, 2011, accessed September 12, 2011 .
  2. ↑ a b "These people are not to be taken seriously". In: the daily newspaper . September 12, 2011, accessed September 5, 2011 .
  3. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), February 23, 2011, p. 3.
  4. ^ Two Benghazi tribes support Gaddafi-Libyan TV. In: Reuters . March 16, 2011, accessed September 12, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Libyan tribal representatives turn away from Al-Gaddafi. In: ORF . April 27, 2011, accessed September 12, 2011 .
  6. ↑ a b Factbox: Libya's Warfalla tribe , Reuters, September 1, 2011
  7. ↑ Last Chance Negotiations. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . September 5, 2011, accessed September 12, 2011 .