Tripoli residents in daily ordeal on uprising anniversary
TRIPOLI: Six years after the start of an uprising that toppled a dictator, Libyans in Tripoli see no reason to celebrate with power cuts, exorbitant prices and insecurity plaguing their daily lives.
At a moment’s notice, shopkeepers in the Libyan capital pull down their shutters, cars make sudden u-turns and gunshots ring out in the empty street.
“We’re living at the mercy of men obsessed with weapons, violence and profit,” says Abdelalim al-Hajj Ali, as he hides with his daughter from clashes inside a bakery.
“The situation in our country is dramatic,” the 48-year- old teacher says, while fighting rages outside in one of the capital’s shopping streets.
On the eve of the anniversary of the revolt that ended Muammar Gaddafi’s decades-long rule, Libyans say living conditions have deteriorated in the year since a UN-backed unity government started working in the capital.
The Government of National Accord has also failed to assert its authority across the rest of the oil-rich country.
“It’s tiresome to see Libyans living in the dark, poverty and constant fear when there’s a sea of oil in their country’s belly,” Ali says.
Holed up inside the bakery, Ali and his daughter can hear gunfire and the screeching tires of the fighters’ pick-ups armed with antiaircraft guns.
Tripoli has been controlled by dozens of armed groups since Gaddafi’s fall, and it is often hard for residents to follow their fluctuating loyalties and who they are fighting.
Armed groups display stickers on their vehicles according to their current interests, usually mentioning an official body – such as ‘ army’ or ‘ interior ministry’ – to give themselves some legitimacy.
Clashes have been regular in the Libyan capital since 2011, especially at night, and checkpoints have spread across the city.
While traffic jams create a sense of normality for Libyans living in the capital, driving across Tripoli can be dangerous, especially at night.
To help each other out, Libyans have started swapping information about safe routes on social media.
As if security was not enough to worry about, Libyans in the capital have also been hit by daily power and water outages, dizzying price hikes and a cash crunch. — AFP