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Reuters
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Libya's crisis: A timeline of events since the 2011 uprising
May 14 (Reuters) - Here is a timeline chronicling Libya's years of chaos and division: 2011 - Revolt and civil war An uprising against Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade rule rapidly spreads, becoming an armed revolt aided by NATO airstrikes. Gaddafi is ousted in August and killed in October by rebels. 2012 - Missed opportunities A rebel council holds elections for an interim General National Congress which creates a transitional government. True power lies with local armed groups. Islamist militants gain ground and attack the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, killing the ambassador. 2013 - Growing divisions Armed groups are ever more powerful, besieging government buildings. The Congress is increasingly divided and trust ebbs as it seeks to extend its term and delay elections. 2014 - East-West schism The Congress rejects the results of an election to a new parliament - the House of Representatives (HoR) - and sets up a government backed by armed groups in the west. The newly elected parliament moves from Tripoli to the east in support of a rival government backed by Khalifa Haftar, a former general who has brought together several armed factions as the Libyan National Army. Libya is now split between warring administrations in east and west. 2015 - Islamists on the march Islamist groups take advantage of the chaos and Islamic State seizes Sirte, Gaddafi's home city in central Libya, in February. In December, the rival parliamentary bodies sign the Libyan Political Agreement to set up a new transition. The agreement confirms the HoR as Libya's parliament but gives members of the General National Congress a new role as an advisory second chamber - the High State Council (HSC). 2016 - Islamic State driven back The HoR rejects the new government as it takes office in Tripoli, entrenching Libya's east-west divide. Western armed factions eventually take Sirte from Islamic State as Haftar fights militants in Derna and Benghazi and seizes the oil crescent region of central Libya. 2019 - Haftar attacks Tripoli After two more years of on-off fighting across Libya, Haftar drives his LNA through the south, bringing most remaining oil fields under his control. In April, Haftar launches a surprise offensive against Tripoli, taking Sirte en route. He is backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia. Western Libyan armed groups come together to support the Tripoli government with help from Turkey, their alliance bolstered by a deal on maritime borders that angers Egypt and Greece. 2020 - Ceasefire Turkey openly offers military support to Tripoli and Haftar's offensive collapses. As his forces pull back, evidence of atrocities is found in the town of Tarhuna. The sides agree a ceasefire and the U.N. launches a new peacemaking effort aimed at holding national elections the following year. 2021 - A failed election Eastern and western factions accept a new Government of National Unity (GNU) and Presidency Council, meant to oversee elections in December. But the HoR in the east and the HSC in the west cannot agree on a new constitution or rules for the vote and the election falls apart at the last minute. 2022 - Standoff Both parliamentary bodies now say the unity government has lost its legitimacy but the prime minister, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, refuses to quit. The HoR in eastern Libya again appoints a rival administration, but it fails to enter Tripoli. The Nawasi, a major Tripoli militia, is driven from the capital. 2023 - Paralysis As efforts to end the impasse stall, the major players work to consolidate their positions. The catastrophic flood that hits Derna in the east after two poorly maintained dams collapse underscores the havoc caused by 12 years of chaos and division. 2024 - Central Bank crisis The Presidency Council in Tripoli sacks the veteran Central Bank of Libya (CBL) head Sadiq al-Kabir, a year after Dbeibah replaced the longstanding National Oil Corporation chief. The two bodies had managed to remain relatively independent and the changes prompt a political crisis. 2025 - Tripoli factions battle for supremacy Major militia leader Abdulghani Kikli, known as Ghaniwa, is killed and factions aligned with Dbeibah rapidly seize his group's territory. With Dbeibah appearing close to consolidating control over Tripoli after years of fragmentation, intense clashes break out.
Asharq Al-Awsat
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
A Stable Libya Benefits Everyone
We have seen many calls for an end to interference in Libyan affairs, as well as many initiatives and attempts to restore stability to Libya. However, a serious and effective solution has yet to emerge. Most recently, we heard United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echo these demands, calling on 'the countries intervening in Libya to stop interfering in its affairs. A stable and peaceful Libya benefits everyone, and only the Libyan people should have a say in who leads them. There is nothing to justify the perpetuation of the current state of affairs in Libya. It is true that the stability of Libya, which is home to Africa's largest oil and water reservoirs, would benefit its people and neighbors alike. Guterres is right: "A stable and peaceful Libya benefits everyone." Libya's wealth would indeed allow for its prosperity and make its surroundings more prosperous if its stability is enhanced. However, this shared interest was undermined when NATO toppled the Libyan state rather than removing Gaddafi's regime. The results were disastrous: chaos, the collapse of state institutions, the proliferation of weapons, and the spread of militias under foreign protection. This is not to suggest that Gaddafi's rule amounted to a golden age- far from it. His regime impoverished Libya, prioritized personal interests and turned the state into his personal fief. Today, we are seeing the beginning of efforts to restore the state and its authority in Libya, following the systematic chaos that has prevailed since 2011. This chaos was fueled by political Islamist groups that infiltrated the country through the 2012 elections, allowing those who had resided in the case of Tora Bora to move into the Rixos Hotel, the home of the General National Congress whose mandate had 'finished.' They refused to hand over power to the newly elected House of Representatives after failing to maintain a parliamentary majority that they had only won through lies and bribes in the first place. They were then emphatically defeated in the parliamentary elections, which led them to abandon democracy, as we have come to expect. They embrace elections when they win but resort to violence and weapons when they lose, as they did through the militias loyal to them. The General National Congress was thus transformed into the High Council of State, which was composed of the same ideologically driven members, through the framework of the Skhirat Agreement signed in Morocco. This amounted to the establishment of a parallel body (the unelected High Council of State) that shared legislative power with the country's elected parliament, in what was a political ploy orchestrated by the Muslim Brotherhood, masters of political deceit. This aggravated the Libyan crisis and plunged the country into political paralysis that continues to this day. The Libyan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood has been waging a relentless war against the army and military institutions since infiltrating power after February 2011, using the Transitional Council and the 2012 General National Congress as cover. During this period, the political Islamist movement- an alliance between the Brotherhood and the Libyan branch of al-Qaeda- seized control of the government, creating parallel military entities and banding militias into armed brigades, mirroring Lebanon's Hezbollah and creating a Libyan version of the organization.
