Overview

Nearly 7 years after Qaddafi's removal, Libya remains mired in civil conflict, political division, lawlessness, and economic crisis, with few signs of abating anytime soon. ISIS and al-Qaeda, though seriously degraded, are regrouping, and as we have seen in a series of car bombings this year, they are still very much capable of violence. Despite backing by the United Nations and its partners, the western-based Government of National Accord, or GNA, has not been able to provide security or consolidate power throughout Libya's vast territory, and it continues to clash with eastern-based House of Representatives backed by General Haftar and his Libyan National Army, or LNA. Armed militias, some with ties to the LNA and GNA, profit off the lack of security and the rule of law, smuggling drugs, weapons and people, and migrants using Libya as a waypoint into Europe, suffer horrific treatment at the hands of smugglers, including torture, sexual abuse, and enslavement. Adding to the chaos, a host of external actors continue to back different Libyan factions with the U.S. and the U.N. supporting the GNA; Egypt, the UAE, and Russia supporting Haftar, and Qatar and Turkey supporting the country's Islamist groups. All of this has made political reconciliation more remote, as both sides have dug in their heels and negotiations have stalled. The prospect of U.N.-backed elections this year, which were probably too soon anyway, also seems to have fallen by the wayside.