Wadi al Shatii District
Ancient riverbed district where the Great Man-Made River pipeline crosses contested tribal territory—too empty to govern, too strategic to abandon.
Wadi al Shatii—the Valley of the Shore—exists because a dry riverbed needed a name that remembered water. This elongated district west of Sabha follows the course of an ancient watercourse that once flowed toward Lake Chad, now a wadi that floods perhaps once a decade and otherwise marks a route through the otherwise featureless Fezzan.
The district stretches northwest-southeast through some of Libya's most isolated territory. Brak, the main town, serves as an administrative center and military outpost; the air base here was captured by Haftar's forces in 2017 as part of the campaign to control Libya's south. Beyond Brak, scattered settlements cling to wells and palm groves along the old riverbed.
The population—perhaps 80,000, though census data is unreliable—is predominantly Arab (Awlad Suleiman) with significant Tuareg presence. These two communities have competed for dominance in the Fezzan since long before Gaddafi manipulated their rivalry. After 2011, fighting between them displaced thousands and collapsed what little governance existed.
The Great Man-Made River crosses Wadi al Shatii, pumping water from Jabal Hasawna in the southwest toward the coast. The pipeline represents the district's primary modern infrastructure—and its vulnerability. Militants have repeatedly threatened to disrupt water supplies to pressure coastal governments.
By 2026, Wadi al Shatii embodies the Fezzan's strategic irrelevance and strategic importance. Too few people live here to matter politically; too much water and territory cross here to ignore militarily. The valley named for a shore that disappeared millennia ago marks where Libya's control of its own south remains nominal.