ASSESSMENTS

Libya's Government Seeks Support It May Not Get

Aug 21, 2015 | 09:01 GMT

Members of an Islamist-backed militia sit on a pick up truck mounted with a machine gun in Libya's coastal city of Sirte.

(MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Summary

Libya's internationally recognized government in the eastern city of Tobruk is trying to rally support for its wallowing efforts at regaining some stability. With the Arab League's backing, the government announced its intent to seek the lifting of the U.N. arms ban on the country. Following several failed attempts by local Salafist groups to oust Islamic State fighters and their allies from the central coastal city of Sirte, the Tobruk-based government has also appealed to the Arab League for airstrikes against militant targets, even as factions compete and the presence of state institutions dwindle.

Though the Arab League has voiced support for the Tobruk government and condemned the Islamic State's violence, Arab leaders lack the appetite and ability to tackle another regional headache. The league has agreed in principle to work with Tobruk to lift the U.N. weapons ban, with some Western states, including the United Kingdom, also voicing initial approval. But Libyan factions cannot contend with their country's serious security vacuum on their own. Moreover, as long as violence remains largely confined to Libya, or at least if spillover violence is minimal, Arab and Western states will continue to prioritize the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Western states such as the United States will also continue to oppose lifting the weapons ban to avoid exacerbating already high levels of violence.

The North African country is simply not that high a priority for its potential benefactors....

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