Country: Libya
Group: Tebu
Date Finalized: 3/31/21
Team: Omer Carrillo (lead), Natasha Chandra, Colleen Clauss
The Tebu are a nomadic tribe who have long been marginalized and displaced for many decades in the country of Libya. Former dictator Muammar Gaddafi contribute to the displacement of the Tebu. His policies of Arabization in the 1970’s forced many of them away from their land and deprived them of Libyan citizenship (Minority Rights 2018). There was also a territorial dispute between Chad and Libya over “the mineral-rich Aouzou strip”, which compelled Gaddafi to register any residents in the region including the Tebu for Libyan Citizenship. The Tebu in this area would later have their citizenship revoked by Gaddafi after the International Court of Justice ruled that Chad would have control of the Aouzou strip. Policies of Arabization also rose again by Gaddafi in 2009, which led to the destruction of the Tebu’s homes in Kafar and forced them away. After the death of Gaddafi in 2011, things did not get any better since the Tebu and Tuareg militias violently disputed over oil, water, and control of the smuggling trade in Awbari, Libya. The militias’ conflict internally displaced 18,500 Libyans, “most of whom were women, children and the elderly” (Minority Rights Group, 2018). We rated the data quality to be a 2 since there is plentiful evidence of Gaddafi’s Arabization policies, the Libya-Chad territorial dispute and the violent clashes between the Tebu and Tuareg, but there are few peer-reviewed sources.
Sources
- Minority Rights Group. (2018, July). Tuareg. Minority Rights Group. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/tuareg-3/