Background Article on Conflict between Misrata & Bani Walid..

The recent month-long siege and battle to control Bani Walid, home to Libya's largest tribe the Warfalla, has its roots in a very similar situation in the 1920s. Ramadan Suwahli, Misurata's strongman at the time, received some bad advice from Italy, Libya's colonial power.

The Italians told Suwahli that if he were to conquer Bani Walid, he would control the north-west of Libya and thence be in a better position to negotiate a political settlement with the colonial masters. When Suwahli mobilised his Misurata tribesmen in 1920 to attack their neighbours in Bani Walid . .

Almost a century later, and the same scenario is playing out again. In 1920, Suwahli lost the war and, as a timely reminder, he was killed on Eid Al Adha. . . In the recent battle for Bani Walid, history was at the forefront - when the Misurata militia claimed victory in the centre of Bani Walid last week, they raised a large portrait of Suwahli as a triumphalist gesture. . .

Bani Walid is being called the "last stronghold" of the slain leader. One wonders how a dead leader could have a stronghold. So far, not a single shred of evidence has been produced to support this claim regarding Qaddafi loyalists. . .

Read more: [link to www.thenational.ae]

A difference between 1920 & 2012 - NATO Supplied weapons given to one side (Misrata)