Libya’s competing centers of power and the West’s priority: support the political process (Mattia Toaldo, Aspenia online)

After the fall of Muammar Qaddafi and particularly since the summer of 2014, Libya lacked a central government and was instead divided between multiple centers of power. Despite the signing of a UN-backed deal in December 2015, the country is still divided between the Government of National Accord (GNA) sitting in Tripoli and the rival institutions in the east of the country under the control of anti-Islamist, Egypt-backed General Khalifa Heftar. The competition between these two centers of power is fought over the control of institutions (particularly those included in the UN deal) and increasingly over who will liberate Sirte (the coastal town located halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi) from ISIS, thus gaining a certain degree of gratitude and recognition by the US and Europe.

http://www.aspeninstitute.it/aspenia-online/article/libya%E2%80%99s-competing-centers-power-and-west%E2%80%99s-priority-support-political-process