Aabla Jounaïdi
For nearly seven years, from 2014 to 2020, the city of Tarhouna, south of Tripoli, lived under the bloody rule of a militia known as the Kaniyat. Summary executions, massacres and enforced disappearances were the daily lot of the inhabitants. Since last June and the escape of the Kaniyat in the wake of their defeated ally Khalifa Haftar, macabre discoveries have been made. Families demand justice.
For nearly seven years, from 2014 to 2020, the city of Tarhouna, south of Tripoli, lived under the bloody rule of a militia known as the Kaniyat. Summary executions, massacres and enforced disappearances were the daily lot of the inhabitants. Since last June and the escape of the Kaniyat in the wake of their defeated ally Khalifa Haftar, macabre discoveries have been made. Families demand justice.
From our special correspondent in Tarhouna,Hands joined in quick prayer, Abdelkarim Abouklich gazes at the tombs with makeshift stelae. Overlooking a valley planted with immense olive groves, the cemetery seems to be dominated by freshly dug graves. “ Before, in this cemetery, the graves did not extend beyond the top of this embankment, ” explains Abdelkarim. When the Kaniyat arrived, their numbers exploded. “
For years Tarhouna, a town famous for its ancestral olive tree cultivation, lived under the bloody rule of a militia known as the Kaniyat. Summary executions, massacres and enforced disappearances were the daily lot of the inhabitants. Even more so when the city became in 2019 a strategic base for Marshal Khalifa Haftar in his failed offensive against Tripoli.
The terrible Kani siblings
Abdelkarim Abouklich saw a large part of his family die or disappear under the reign of the Kaniyat, the nickname of the “7th Brigade”, a militia led by siblings, the Kani, greedy for power and money. Changing political camp was not a problem for the Kaniyat. After years of wooing successive governments in Tripoli, they went over to the enemy, the commander-in-chief of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army of East Libya, Khalifa Haftar in 2019. And woe to those who did not follow. the Kani brothers in this umpteenth turnaround.
Sitting in one of the six family houses, Mabrouka Abouklich still looks at the photos of the deceased, including that of her brother, a tribal chief, Mabrouk Abouklich. “ In these photos, you see Mabrouk’s three sons, my nephews. He is the youngest Osama. He worked for the Kaniyat, says the old lady. One day they offered to hold a roadblock and the next day they kidnapped him claiming that he had quarreled with one of their men. It was a pure lie. My brother Mabrouk went to see what was going on with his other son Abderrazak, a doctor at the university. We begged them not to go. The Kaniyat are criminals, ”she recalls. The family has not seen them since. “ We waited, waited. Their phones were turned off. They never came back, ”breathes the grandmother.
The massacre of a family
According to a count by the authorities responsible for tracing the victims, at least 350 people have disappeared in Tarhouna since 2014 and the rise of the Kaniyat. Dozens of families like the Abouklich are left to fend for themselves, without being able to mourn their loved ones.
In the whirlwind of the last war, the brothers strengthened their governance of terror in Tarhouna. But long before the last war alongside Haftar and his mercenaries, it was thanks to the support of successive governments in Tripoli that the Kaniyat prospered. To hold Tarhouna, historically a Qadhafi stronghold, such was the mandate given by the camp of ultrarevolutionaries and Islamists to the Kaniyat. Whatever the cost.
It was under the government of Fayez al-Sarraj, dubbed by the UN, that the massacre of the family of Osama, the Abouklich family took place. April 17, 2017. “ Around 1:30 pm, the neighbors told us that my sister’s son had been in a car accident and died in front of the hospital, ” says Oum Hana Abouklich, whose three brothers and a nephew died that day.
“ When we arrived, we found my sister’s house surrounded by a whole bunch of militiamen with all possible weapons, heavy and light. They were all killed at the same time. In an instant… 5 minutes, 10 minutes. The militiamen shot them in front of the house. Without any reason. They came to kill innocent people in the middle of Ramadan, ”she recounts in a faint voice.
Western officials meet with the Kaniyat
This is the now well-known story in Tarhouna of the massacre of the Basboussa family. But why ? What had the brothers of Umm Hana done to deserve to be executed in broad daylight with the heavy weapon ? Did the Kaniyat make them pay for their refusal to associate with them.
“ My brother Rajab was a soldier,” Oum Hana admits. Yes he was, he never denied it. Under the Guide [Muammar Kadhafi, editor’s note], he did his duty in Chad, Lebanon and Uganda. But my brothers refused to be criminals, to kill, to steal. We were not for this Revolution and we did not want to be associated with it, ”slices the bereaved sister.
More than eight months after the discovery of the mass graves, many relatives of the victims are waiting to be able to identify them by DNA. But material support is slow to materialize. At the headquarters of the association of families of victims of Tarhouna, Ousama Abouklich, the cousin, calls for justice for his family. ” What happened was known to all: the government in Tripoli, the international community, ” said the young man. There was a kind of laissez-faire. Even the ambassador of France and Ghassan Salamé, the former UN special envoy, came to visit the Kaniyat here in 2018, ”recalls Ousama, bitterly.
At the time, efforts were well underway to initiate the broadest and most inclusive political process possible under the aegis of the international community. But by launching the assault on Tripoli in 2019, Marshal Haftar put an end to it, with the help of his allies in Tarhouna. Since the failure of the offensive, those who remain of the Kaniyat have found refuge in eastern Libya, the Marshal’s stronghold.
The Abouklich family has officially renounced the law of retaliation which still dictates relations between clans in Tarhouna. But in the Abouklich family living room, Mabrouka warns : ” You give them food and drink!” The old woman that I am tells you : one day you will see mass graves in Benghazi. Oh, people from the east, what happened in Tarhouna will happen to you too. “
Hands joined in quick prayer, Abdelkarim Abouklich gazes at the tombs with makeshift stelae. Overlooking a valley planted with immense olive groves, the cemetery seems to be dominated by freshly dug graves. “ Before, in this cemetery, the graves did not extend beyond the top of this embankment, ” explains Abdelkarim. When the Kaniyat arrived, their numbers exploded. “
For years Tarhouna, a town famous for its ancestral olive tree cultivation, lived under the bloody rule of a militia known as the Kaniyat. Summary executions, massacres and enforced disappearances were the daily lot of the inhabitants. Even more so when the city became in 2019 a strategic base for Marshal Khalifa Haftar in his failed offensive against Tripoli.
The terrible Kani siblings
Abdelkarim Abouklich saw a large part of his family die or disappear under the reign of the Kaniyat, the nickname of the “7th Brigade”, a militia led by siblings, the Kani, greedy for power and money. Changing political camp was not a problem for the Kaniyat. After years of wooing successive governments in Tripoli, they went over to the enemy, the commander-in-chief of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army of East Libya, Khalifa Haftar in 2019. And woe to those who did not follow. the Kani brothers i this umpteenth turnaround.
Sitting in one of the six family houses, Mabrouka Abouklich still looks at the photos of the deceased, including that of her brother, a tribal chief, Mabrouk Abouklich. “ In these photos, you see Mabrouk’s three sons, my nephews. He is the youngest Osama. He worked for the Kaniyat, says the old lady. One day they offered to hold a roadblock and the next day they kidnapped him claiming that he had quarreled with one of their men. It was a pure lie. My brother Mabrouk went to see what was going on with his other son Abderrazak, a doctor at the university. We begged them not to go. The Kaniyat are criminals, ”she recalls. The family has not seen them since. “ We waited, waited. Their phones were turned off. They never came back, ”breathes the grandmother.
The massacre of a family
According to a count by the authorities responsible for tracing the victims, at least 350 people have disappeared in Tarhouna since 2014 and the rise of the Kaniyat. Dozens of families like the Abouklich are left to fend for themselves, without being able to mourn their loved ones.
In the whirlwind of the last war, the brothers strengthened their governance of terror in Tarhouna. But long before the last war alongside Haftar and his mercenaries, it was thanks to the support of successive governments in Tripoli that the Kaniyat prospered. To hold Tarhouna, historically a Qadhafi stronghold, such was the mandate given by the camp of ultrarevolutionaries and Islamists to the Kaniyat. Whatever the cost.
It was under the government of Fayez al-Sarraj, dubbed by the UN, that the massacre of the family of Osama, the Abouklich family took place. April 17, 2017. “ Around 1:30 pm, the neighbors told us that my sister’s son had been in a car accident and died in front of the hospital, ” says Oum Hana Abouklich, whose three brothers and a nephew died that day.
“ When we arrived, we found my sister’s house surrounded by a whole bunch of militiamen with all possible weapons, heavy and light. They were all killed at the same time. In an instant… 5 minutes, 10 minutes. The militiamen shot them in front of the house. Without any reason. They came to kill innocent people in the middle of Ramadan, ”she recounts in a faint voice.
Western officials meet with the Kaniyat
This is the now well-known story in Tarhouna of the massacre of the Basboussa family. But why ? What had the brothers of Umm Hana done to deserve to be executed in broad daylight with the heavy weapon ? Did the Kaniyat make them pay for their refusal to associate with them ?ubscribe
“ My brother Rajab was a soldier,” Oum Hana admits. Yes he was, he never denied it. Under the Guide [Muammar Kadhafi, editor’s note], he did his duty in Chad, Lebanon and Uganda. But my brothers refused to be criminals, to kill, to steal. We were not for this Revolution and we did not want to be associated with it, ”slices the bereaved sister.
More than eight months after the discovery of the mass graves, many relatives of the victims are waiting to be able to identify them by DNA. But material support is slow to materialize. At the headquarters of the association of families of victims of Tarhouna, Ousama Abouklich, the cousin, calls for justice for his family. ” What happened was known to all: the government in Tripoli, the international community, ” said the young man. There was a kind of laissez-faire. Even the ambassador of France and Ghassan Salamé, the former UN special envoy, came to visit the Kaniyat here in 2018, ”recalls Ousama, bitterly.
At the time, efforts were well underway to initiate the broadest and most inclusive political process possible under the aegis of the international community. But by launching the assault on Tripoli in 2019, Marshal Haftar put an end to it, with the help of his allies in Tarhouna. Since the failure of the offensive, those who remain of the Kaniyat have found refuge in eastern Libya, the Marshal’s stronghold.
The Abouklich family has officially renounced the law of retaliation which still dictates relations between clans in Tarhouna. But in the Abouklich family living room, Mabrouka warns : ” You give them food and drink!” The old woman that I am tells you : one day you will see mass graves in Benghazi. Oh, people from the east, what happened in Tarhouna will happen to you too. “
_________________
Teller Report
