The various armed groups that have been deployed in Tripoli to guarantee the security of the Libyan capital, but in recent months some of them have clashed with each other, should leave the city, giving way to the official security services, the ministry announced today Interior of Libya.

“After a month of discussions, we have reached an agreement with the security teams, so that they will soon leave the capital completely. There will be no more but the city police, rescuers and the agencies that take on the investigations of criminal cases,” said Imad Trabelsi, the minister of the interior of the government of national unity.

In the press conference held by Trabelsi, he named several groups among those who will leave the city: the General Security Force, the Al Radaa Force (deterrence, controls eastern Tripoli), Brigade 444 which controls southern Tripoli, and Brigade 111 which attached to the general staff. The decision also concerns the Stability Support Authority (SSA), an armed organization based in the popular neighborhood of Abu Slim in Tripoli, where 10 people were killed overnight Saturday into Sunday. Among the victims were members of the SSA.

These influential groups are heavily armed and emerged after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, aiming to fill the security vacuum as there were still no stable state institutions. They do not report directly to the Ministries of Defense or the Interior, but are funded by public funds. They operate independently and were granted special status by the prime minister’s office and the presidential council in 2021. Their members, often with their faces covered, are deployed at roundabouts and intersections, setting up roadblocks and checkpoints and blocking traffic using armored vehicles. in which they place heavy and light armament. Sometimes they lead to violent incidents, as happened last August in the clash between the Al Radaa Force and Brigade 444. Battle toll: 55 dead and 146 wounded in one day.

“Henceforth, their place is in their barracks. We will turn to these groups only in exceptional cases, for specific missions,” Trabelsi explained, assuring that their leaders “showed understanding.”

“After Tripoli, it will be the turn of the other cities where there will no longer be roadblocks, nor the presence of these groups” on the streets, he added.