Libya’s latest unity government faces uphill battle

TUNIS: A new unity government in Libya had raised hopes the war-ravaged North African nation had turned a corner towards peace-but analysts warn that major stumbling blocks remain. Thousands of foreign mercenaries are still on the ground, political factions remain deeply divided, and the promise of elections in December seems to be slipping away. “The honeymoon period of Libya’s GNU (Government of National Unity) is now long gone,” said analyst Emadeddin Badi. The toppling and killing of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising plunged Libya into a bloody, decade-long struggle for power. After a grim, year-long battle for the western capital of Tripoli, in which rival camps were backed by foreign powers, a truce last summer finally led to a formal UNmediated ceasefire in October.

That was followed in March by the establishment of a new unity government to replace rival administrations in east and west. Interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah’s administration is charged with unifying Libya’s institutions and preparing for elections on December 24. But despite the rare wave of optimism, Libya’s deep rivalries are beginning to resurface. “After an unprecedented breakthrough over the past two months, we have entered a new phase of doubt-and a resurgence of divisions between east and west,” noted analyst Imad Jalloul.

Last week, dozens of gunmen staged a show of force at a hotel used as a headquarters by Libya’s presidential council in Tripoli. That came after interim Foreign Minister Najla Al-Mangoush, from eastern Libya, angered many in the west by demanding that Turkey withdraw troops it had deployed during the civil war. Ankara’s support is widely credited with western Libyan forces’ victory last June over eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, who had waged a year-long offensive on Tripoli with the backing of Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

The UN Security Council has since called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops and mercenaries, estimated to number as many as 20,000. The foreign fighters are a mixed bunch: Russians from the private Kremlin-linked Wagner Group, Chadians and Sudanese, along with Ankara-backed Syrians and Turkish soldiers deployed under a bilateral agreement with the previous government in Tripoli.—AFP