23 people were killed in clashes in Baidoa in Somalia, health protests in Libya, and the mayor of Tangier in Morocco was arrested.

At least 23 people were killed in fighting between Somali government forces and militias loyal to a former state president in the city of Baidoa, southwest of the country.

Somali MP Hassan Abdelnur told the German News Agency that militias loyal to Abdelaziz Hassan Mohamed Leftagrin, the former president of the country's southwestern state, attacked the city early this morning (Monday).

The fighting reportedly lasted more than five hours, and both sides used heavy weapons. Homes and shops were damaged, and residents took refuge in mosques.

It was reported that a number of deaths fell on both sides, while there were no immediate reports of civilian casualties.

Deputy Minister of Information, Abdel Rahman Youssef, said that fighters from the extremist Islamic Al-Shabaab movement participated in the attack, which Abdel Nour rejected. The conflicting accounts could not be independently verified.

There has been a power struggle for months in the southwestern region of Somalia. After federal forces took control of Baidoa in March, Leftagrin resigned. Since then, repeated clashes have occurred between his supporters and the Mogadishu-backed regional leadership.

A large number of health sector workers in western Libya gathered, on Monday, in front of the headquarters of the interim “National Unity” government in Tripoli to demand their “rights,” in conjunction with a general strike by teachers, in an escalation of the factional protests taking place in the country and putting the government before increasing demands.

In front of the government headquarters on Al-Sikka Road in the capital, Tripoli, hundreds of medical staff, dentists, and health sector workers gathered and chanted, demanding that the authorities in Tripoli implement nine demands, including increasing salaries.

This rally was prompted by the incident of an attack by security personnel on doctors during a peaceful stand in front of the government headquarters, on Sunday evening, which aroused broad segments of Libyans, amid demands for an investigation into the incident.

Health sector workers said that their protest movement comes “as a result of years of suffering and living pressures, in light of rising prices, accumulation of debt, and deteriorating conditions in the health sector,” stressing that their demands aim to improve working conditions and ensure a decent life for workers.

The workers explained in a statement carried by the “Union of the Health Sector Movement in Libya” on Monday that their movement does not represent “a passing moment of anger, but rather comes after years of patience” in the face of conditions they described as “difficult,” pointing at the same time to the continued presence of professional cadres and competencies keen to fulfill their mission and serve the citizens.

They stressed that their demands “are not related to personal gain, but rather to improving the conditions of workers in the health sector, and providing an appropriate work environment that enables them to perform their duties, in addition to working to reform the health system and raise the level of services provided to the Libyan citizen.”

While the workers rejected attempts to reduce or cast doubt on their demands, they affirmed their commitment to continuing the movement and working to develop the health sector as one of the basic sectors that directly affects the lives of citizens.

The demands of the health sector in Libya include increasing salaries, activating bonuses and benefits, providing health and medical insurance, expanding and organizing the job structure, and addressing the shortage in cadres, in addition to providing medicines, medical supplies and devices, and providing protection for workers while performing their duty, in addition to protecting national competencies and addressing the reasons for their migration to the private sector or outside the country. They also called for the involvement of unions and professional bodies in decisions affecting workers and the sector.

The General Syndicate of Dentists in Libya organized a demonstration on Monday, and issued a call to all health sector cadres to rally in what it described as “the largest protest in the history of the health sector,” to demand “legitimate and just rights” for workers in that sector.

The “Union of the Health Sector Movement in Libya” expressed its anger and rejection that “a number of medical and paramedical staff and administrators in Libya were attacked by the force charged with protecting the government headquarters, on Sunday, while they were organizing a peaceful protest in front of the Prime Minister’s headquarters on Al-Sikka Road in the capital, Tripoli.”

Member of the Supreme Council of State, Abu al-Qasim Qazit, referred to the incident and published a picture of a security personnel holding the lapels of a doctor during the protest. He said sarcastically: “The civil state police, after attacking university professors, are here today strangling doctors!”

The union and health authorities called on the Libyan Public Prosecutor to open an “immediate and urgent investigation” into the attack, and hold all those involved accountable, with the need to provide full protection to health personnel.

Libyan academic Faraj Dardour said: “When ignorance hits the joints of the state, the value of knowledge declines, and the doctor and teacher are humiliated, while those involved in armed formations take the lead,” stressing that “this incompetent differentiation prevents the country from improving its condition, and increases the depletion of its resources day after day.”

Dardour spoke, on his Facebook account, about the large gap in the wage structure, asking: “How is it possible for a doctor who spent many years to acquire difficult sciences to receive a salary that does not exceed two thousand dinars, while those at the forefront of the weapons scene enjoy many times this salary?!” “It is an environment that rewards inability and punishes competence.”

After pressure, the “unity” government agreed to increase the salaries of members of the Petroleum Facilities Guard, which escalated criticism from large sectors among teachers and all those affiliated with the health sector in Libya. Airport and civil aviation employees at Misrata Airport also entered the line of factional demands, and called for “the settlement of their financial and administrative conditions.”

This comes as the teachers’ movement in Libya adheres to the general strike in all schools, despite the Minister of Education, Dr. Muhammad Al-Qaryou, directing a letter on Sunday to the municipal education monitors regarding the immediate start of opening schools and receiving students in order to preserve their right to education.

In an attempt to contain the teachers’ anger, Al-Qaryo held a meeting, on Monday morning, with the Board of Directors of the General Health Insurance Fund, to discuss a joint vision that defines the mechanisms for implementing the health insurance program designated for educational and administrative staff in the sector.

The meeting witnessed a discussion of ways and mechanisms to begin compiling and updating the required data and providing it to the Information and Documentation Center, in preparation for developing the approved formula for granting health insurance to all workers in the sector.

On Sunday evening, the Minister of Health in the “Unity” government, Muhammad Al-Ghouj, discussed with representatives of medical unions, allied medical professions, medical laboratories, and directors of health services and hospitals, the demands of health sector workers.

Al-Ghouj indicated in a statement by the Ministry that the workers’ demands to improve their conditions and increase their entitlements are legitimate, and that work is underway to address them in accordance with the legal frameworks and available capabilities.

The Moroccan Public Prosecution decided, on Monday, to arrest the mayor of Tangier, Mounir Limouri, pending investigation, on suspicion of electoral violations on behalf of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, which topped the election results on Wednesday, according to a judicial source.

The source, who requested to remain anonymous, said that the investigation also includes five other people, including the heads of two voting bureaus. “The investigating judge decided to place them in pretrial detention.”

Limori was arrested on Monday morning at Ibn Battuta Airport in Tangier, coming from Spain.

On Wednesday morning, polling day, clips on social media showed a person carrying a bag containing electoral papers outside one of the voting offices in the city of Tangier, while local media reported that these papers included a vote for the Authenticity and Modernity Party.

On that day, the Public Prosecution announced the arrest of this person and the opening of a judicial investigation into the matter.

Also, the Ministry of Interior announced, on Monday, that it had dispatched a central inspection committee to Tangier “following the violations that marred the electoral process,” adding that it would take all necessary measures “in light of what the research will produce.”

The three parties (Authenticity and Modernity, National Rally, and Istiqlal) that make up the outgoing government coalition in Morocco topped the election results, led by the Authenticity and Modernity Party, with 97 seats out of 395.

It is expected that King Mohammed VI will appoint a figure from this party to form a government for five years.

These elections were characterized by a participation rate that did not exceed 39 percent, the lowest in nearly two decades.

It also witnessed a strong return of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (54 seats), which announced on Saturday that it would not participate in the government expected to be formed by the Authenticity and Modernity Party.