Libyan Civil War - 2014-20??

By 2014 the civil war in Libya had been transformed into a proxy war, which pitted Islamist forces supported by Qatar, Sudan and Turkey, against more secular forces supported by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt [and probably the United States]. This became clear after Egypt and the United Arab Emirates launched airstrikes against Islamic militants in the Libyan capital starting on 17 August 2014 and continuing into September.

Subsequently, the United States along with Britain, France, Germany and Italy, issued a statement saying actions by outsiders exacerbate divisions in Libya and undermine democracy. On 18 September 2014 Libya's struggling elected government and representatives of 15 neighboring nations unanimously rejected the idea of military intervention as a way to restore stability. On 22 September 2014 a group of 13 countries released a communique at the UN calling for non-interference in Libya. The countries are Algeria, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, the UAE, UK, US.

In a scenario reminicent of Somalia, by late 2014 the internationally recognized "government" of Libya controlled little more than a resort hotel in the far eastern Libyan city Tobruk, near the Egyptian border. In early September the legal government hired a Greek car ferry, the Elyros, moored in Tobruk harbor to house officials, activists and their families [by one account these were ejected when the ferry's fees went unpaid]. The Elyros charter might have fetched about $25,000 per day.

Since 2012 the Government sought to bring under the authority of the State the armed brigades which emerged during the 2011 armed conflict, and which are in control of most detention facilities where torture takes place. Fighting between militia groups increased significantly in 2012. According to International Crisis Group, over 600 people were killed during the year 2012. Over time, different groups have associated themselves with different political currents, primarily nationalists and Islamists, and that automatically pits one against the other. Each of them has represented an autonomous power center and has been very unwilling to share power with other groups. On top of all that, there is the question of the regional and tribal identities of the groups involved.

The Government had affiliated brigades to specific ministries, even though in many cases the brigades have retained actual control of the detention centres. In April 2013 Libya also adopted a law criminalizing torture, enforced disappearances and discrimination and in September 2013 a new law on transitional justice required all conflict-related detainees to be released or referred to the public prosecutor within 90 days of the promulgation of the law, the number of fatalities has dropped significantly, to fewer than 300 in 2013.

On December 13, 2015 world powers met with Libyan officials on a UN-backed plan designed to unite Libya's fractured government, before a signing ceremony on the proposal that is set for 16 December 2015. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and US Secretary of State John Kerry led the talks in Rome. Libyans taking part in the talks included officials with the internationally recognized government as well as the rival militia alliance.

Members of Libya's rival governments had been expected to sign a peace deal, but the heads of the two parliaments expressed disapproval of the agreement altogether. Parliament leaders Aguila Saleh and Nuri Abu Sahmain met for the first time 15 December 2015 since the two sides set up competing bodies in Tripoli and Tobruk. Each made comments stressing the need for a Libyan solution without outside pressure.

Libyan leaders from the country's two rival parliaments signed a national unity agreement in the Moroccan resort town of Skhirat, after a number of final obstacles were worked out 17 December 2015. The UN-backed unity government will only add to the confusion, with the troubled North African nation already split between two rival governments and parliaments.

A summer of tragic events, with terrorist attacks, the Oil Crescent crisis, Derna battles, and most recently, Tripoli clashes, compelled a delay of elections. The violence in Tripoli finally ended in late 2018. In the one month of fighting, over 120 lives were lost, including those of 34 women and children. As a result of the ceasefire agreements brokered by UNSMIL, the parties agreed to stop the violence. On 25 September 2018, most of the attackers from outside the city withdrew. Several armed groups have withdrawn from positions in Ministries and have indicated a readiness to hand over the port and the civilian terminal of Mitiga airport to state control. There is a fragile but palpable sense of improvement across the capital.

The situation in the South of the country was becoming ever more precarious. A complete collapse in services to the population. Rising terrorism and criminality. Rampant lawlessness. Threats to the oil fields and the water infrastructure upon which the nation relies. Foreign armed groups on Libyan soil. Shortages of everything, from fuel to cash, from medicine to food. The problems are countless, and no state institutions are there to tackle them. Long ignored and marginalised, and now used as a theater for outsiders, resentment in the South was deepening.