More deaths as rival militias clash in Libya

Clashes between rival militias in southern Libya have killed 20 people, a doctor at a regional hospital said, highlighting the challenge the government faces in imposing its authority months after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.

A local doctor, Ibrahim Misbah, said on Monday that 20 fighters died of gunshot wounds and more than 40 people were wounded.

Local council member Ahmed Abdelkadir said clashes first broke out on Sunday between former rebel fighters from Sabha, Libya's fourth largest city, and gunmen from the Tibu tribe after a Sabha man was killed in a dispute over a car.

He said the militias opened fire at each other on the outskirts of Sabha.

According to Ali al-Dib, a former rebel, the clashes erupted in the city centre and resulted in between 15 and 20 dead among the ex-rebel forces.

"We have taken back the offices of the military council which were seized by the Toubou. The fighting is continuing and getting worse," he said by phone from Sabha, with the noise of automatic gunfire clearly audible in the background.

NTC member Mukhtar al-Jadal confirmed there had been fighting in Sabha, an oasis city in southern Libya, and said that NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil had met representatives from the south in an effort to broker a solution.

A local source said Toubou tribesmen who had been in "brigades of former rebels have defected and rejoined their own" people, adding that "some elements from Chad are fighting with the Toubou."

Toubou tribesmen have also been involved in deadly clashes with another tribe in the Saharan oasis of Kufra, where two ethnic groups are locked in a standoff over smuggling.

The Toubou are traditionally oasis farmers who also have connections beyond Libya's borders.

The NTC is hampered by the lack of a coherent national army and has struggled to persuade the myriad militias who fought Gaddafi to put down their guns and join the armed forces and police.

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, NTC chief, agreed on Monday with critics that his government is not providing strong enough leadership.

"I am not satisfied with the performance of the government or the NTC, because it is too slow in making decisions and is weak and lacks confidence in its decision making," Abdul-Jalil said during a visit to the eastern city of Benghazi.

Last month dozens of people were killed in days of clashes between tribes in the far southeastern province of Al Kufra.  Government security forces eventually intervened to stop the fighting in a rare example of the Tripoli bureaucracy imposing its authority.

Abdul-Jalil said incompetent ministers may be dismissed in the coming months, but he gave no specifics. A 200-member assembly to be elected in June has the job of appointing new cabinet ministers.