ASSESSMENTS

Libya Chases an Elusive Unity

Dec 18, 2018 | 23:04 GMT

The head of Libya's internationally recognized Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, addresses the 72nd Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 20, 2017.

The head of Libya's internationally recognized Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, addresses the 72nd Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 20, 2017. Long-anticipated elections could finally set the country down the path of greater unity.

(JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Libya is unlikely to resolve its divisions and foster unity anytime soon.
  • Militias will not have any incentive to alter the status quo in the country until the balance of power shifts.
  • Western countries and Arab neighbors will continue to support Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter as a possibly unity figure, although he remains anathema to many in western Libya.

Three years after the Libyan Political Agreement heralded an ostensible unity deal, the war-torn North African country remains as divided as ever. Libya still has two rival parliaments, and the only meaningful difference after all this time is that the country now has a different internationally recognized prime minister (Fayez al-Sarraj) in Tripoli. The country remains insecure, and the Islamic State is proving to be a particularly potent threat this year with attacks on the electoral commission headquarters and national oil companies. And other militias continue to run rampant in areas such as Tripoli, where they control large swaths of territory....

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