Navigating Libya’s tribal maze

Libya’s complex tribal structure plays a crucial role in its politics and now in the pro-democracy opposition movement.

Muammar Gaddafi has, for four decades, been at the helm of a country that is described as one of the most intricate tribal nations in the Middle East.

Analysts say most of the major tribes are represented in the military, but Gaddafi has long relied on his own tribe, the Qathafa, to staff elite security brigades.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford has the details.