You're reading: Tribal ties held key to Gaddafi rule

Oct 20 (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi, killed on Thursday when forces loyal to Libya's new rulers took his home town of Sirte, stayed in power for four decades in part because of his adept manipulation of tribes, centres of power in what remains a conservative, sparsely populated desert country.

Historians say the veteran ruler used economic privileges, marital alliances and the threat of force to build ties to tribes commanding varying degrees of loyalty among most of the six million population.

Gaddafi’s own tribe, the Al-Gaddadfa, one of more than 20 tribes in the country, is based around Sirte, a Mediterranean coastal city.

Despite its small size, its location – in the heart of the Sirte basin rich in oil – gave the tribe pre-eminence and led to claims by its descendents that they trace their lineage directly from Prophet Mohammad, some historians say.

The tribal view of politics in Libya is heavily marked by the violence of the country’s modern history, especially during Italian colonisation from 1912-43, which made many elders generally wary of the concept of a central authority.

Gaddafi managed to pacify the tribes, or at least obtain their cooperation, mainly through violence or the fear of it, exemption from the payment of taxes for the majority of those tribes that rely on pastoral activities, and alliances through marriages or economic privileges.

Gaddafi focused his alliance effort with tribes in the Tripolitania region, which in the Ghadamis basin holds some of the country’s most significant oil deposits.

Al-Zuwayya tribe is located in both the Cyrenaica and Al-Kufra regions whose joint oil production accounts for little compared to the rest of the country.

Following are the main tribes in Libya.

TRIPOLITANIA REGION: Warfalla, Awlad Busayf, Al-Zintan, Al-Rijban

CYRENAICA: Al-Awagir, Al-Abaydat, Drasa, Al-Barasa, Al-Fawakhir, Al-Zuwayya, Al-Majabra

SYRTE-GIBLAH: Al-Gaddadfa, Al-Magarha, Al-Magharba, Al-Riyyah, Al-Haraba, Al-Zuwaid, Al-Guwaid

FEZZAN: Al-Hutman, Al-Hassawna, Tibbu, Tuareg

AL-KUFRA: Al-Zuwayya, Tibbu