Fears of demographic change in areas of Libya

Erem News – Sami Khalil
Libyans warned of what they described as attempts at demographic change in areas of the country, pointing to previous official confirmations of cases of fraud and the granting of national numbers to non-Libyan individuals.

Ali Al-Hishi, a resident of the city of Murzuq, located in the far south of Libya (1,000 km from Tripoli), said that there is a “major defect in national security,” due to the “infiltration and settlement of non-Libyan elements coming from across the border” that the region is generally exposed to.

Al-Hishi said in his interview with “Erm News” that this led to the emergence of negative phenomena and a change in the demographic fabric.

Although he acknowledged the tribal connection between some African families in neighboring countries and their counterparts in southern Libya, Al-Hishi believes that it is “dangerous for them to be granted Libyan identity cards.”

According to experts specialized in the field of immigration, those who have Libyan identities are “Tuareg” and “Tebu,” and they explained that some of them are from the “indigenous” category, whether in the south or the rest of the Libyan cities and villages, while the other group is “Tuaregs who are not Libyans.” They came from Niger, Mali or other border countries, some before the fall of the Gaddafi regime, in search of work and a better life or to join paramilitary forces.

The expert specializing in immigration, Hossam El-Din Al-Abdali, told “Erm News” that there are some of these Libyan Tuareg who have obtained an administrative number, stressing that “this number is useless and does not enable them to obtain a passport or identity card, and it is temporary in preparation for sorting the files and extracting the number.” National”.

He added: “It seems that the current political situation has led to incomplete procedures and caused suffering to many of them.”

Regarding the “Tabu” category, he said that “they range from indigenous Libyans living in the cities of Murzuq, Qatrun, and Kufra, which are cities in the southeast, and their number is small, and other Chadian Tabu who came after the fall of the Gaddafi regime.”

Months ago, circulating photos and videos showed a group of “Chadian women” surrounding the civil registry headquarters in Murzuq, southern Libya, with knives and swords, threatening to burn everyone inside.

This came in response to the Public Prosecutor’s Office sending an administrative delegation to carry out audits and detect “forgery” in the files and systems of the civil registry and national numbers in the city.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office revealed “widespread fraud” in national numbers, as thousands of people were monitored receiving salaries using forged numbers that are not registered in the civil status system.

On the other hand, Tariq Lamloum, a researcher on the issues of migrants and asylum seekers in Libya, said in a statement to “Erm News” that there is “exaggeration” in the case of forging the national ID number and obtaining it by non-Libyans.

He said that the matter requires investigations, especially since the Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the issue, and he mentioned a much lower number than what was reported in the media.

Lamloum believed that “the complexities of the issue” require a realistic view, since many of the “Tuareg” were promised during the Gaddafi era that their situation would be settled. “They are basically Libyans and were given temporary numbers for a period,” he confirmed.