For many Libyans, the clashes that erupted in the capital of Tripoli last month were all too familiar: a deja vu of street fights, reverberating gunfire and people cowering inside their homes. A video circulated online that day, showing a man yelling from a mosque loudspeaker: “Enough of war, we want our young generation!”
Clashes underlined the fragility of the relative peace in Libya that has prevailed for more than a year, but it also seemed that history was repeating itself. Now, observers say the momentum to reunify the country has been lost and its future looks bleak.
Libya has been divided for years between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by rebel militias and foreign governments.. The Mediterranean nation has been in a state of turmoil since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and then he killed the dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
In the last two years a plan had emerged that was destined to put the country on the path to elections. A UN-mediated process installed an interim government in early 2021 to guide Libyans through elections scheduled for late last year.
That government, headed by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, briefly unified political factions under heavy international pressure. But the vote never took place, and the plan has since unraveled, leaving the country in crisis.
Lawmakers in the eastern Libya-based parliament, led by influential speaker Aguila Saleh, argued that Dbeibah’s term ended when the interim government failed to hold elections. They went ahead and chose Fathi Bashagha, a powerful former interior minister from the western city of Misrata, as the new prime minister. Their This position won the backing of powerful commander Khalifa Hifter, whose forces control the east and most of the south of the country, including major oil installations.
Dbeibah has refused to step down and Hifter is deeply opposed by factions allied with him in western Libya. They maintain that Dbeibah, who is also from Misrata with links to his powerful militias, is working to win the elections.
Claudia Gazzini, an expert on Libya at the International Crisis Group, described the Bashagha-Dbeibah rivalry as “a dispute over legitimacy”, in which “both governments claim to be legitimate”.
“I don’t think they can hold elections this year,” he said, also expressing doubts that UN attempts to get Libyan parties to reach a constitutional consensus on the elections would make any progress.
The power struggle came to a head on May 17, when Bashagha entered Tripoli and attempted to install his government there.. She had the help of powerful Nawasi Brigade militia, led by Mustafa Qaddur, deputy head of Libya’s intelligence agency.
But Bashagha faced stiff resistance from militias loyal to Dbeibah, sparking hour-long clashes that rocked the city until Bashagha withdrew and a day later set up his government seat in the coastal city of Sirte, midway between Libya’s power centers to the east and west.
The The withdrawal emboldened Dbeibah, who promptly fired Qaddur and another military official, Osama Juwaili, who heads the military intelligence agency. The presidential council later reversed the removal of Qaddur, an apparent rift within the Dbeibah camp.
According to an official close to Dbeibah, the Tripoli-based prime minister is convinced that Bashagha could not have entered the Libyan capital without “approval or coordination” with Juwaili, a powerful figure from the western city of Zintan, and also from Qaddur.
Juwaili’s forces, the official said, occupied checkpoints and control areas near Gharyan, a city south of Tripoli, where Bashagha’s convoy passed on its way to the capital. Even after Bashagha’s withdrawal, tensions remain high in Tripoli. Some, like the Libyan researcher Jalel Harchaoui, believe that Bashagha could make another move in Tripoli, or at least try to win more support in the area.
Meanwhile, Libyan oil is once again being used as a tool in the struggle for power. Tribal leaders have closed crucial oil facilities, including the country’s largest oil field in the south, controlled by fighters loyal to Hifter, who supports Bashagha.
The oil blockade, which comes as oil prices soar due to the war in Ukraine, was likely intended to starve Debeibah’s government of funds and empower his rival. Bashagha and Saleh have said the facilities will be reopened on the condition that oil revenues are temporarily frozen until rival factions agree on a mechanism to distribute oil funds.
The The war in Ukraine has distracted the international community, but its effects have been felt in Libya, where Russia has long played an outsized role. Russia has recognized Bashagha’s government, which Gazzini of the International Crisis Group says makes it difficult for Western countries to do so too, lest they be seen as on the same side as Russia.
For Libyans, the deadly violence of the last month (one person was killed in the fighting) was a stark reminder of how fragile relative peace had been.
“Chaos and conflict are its breeding ground,” said Mohammed Abu Salim, in his 30s and an official from Tripoli, referring to rival factions in Libya.
“If you really believe that those people will allow free and fair elections, then you are delusional.”
(WITH AP INFORMATION)
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Source-www.infobae.com