Eleven years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan transition process is still pending on as the Libyans find themselves with of them prime ministers, a situation threatening to trigger a new power struggle in the war-torn nation.
Only a few weeks later national planned elections for December 24 were indefinitely postponedthe base is parliament voted to appoint influential people former interior minister Fathi Bashagha to replace the interim unit government.
Outgoing Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, appointed as part of of a United Nations-driven peace process, insisted that he would not postpone over power has a elected government.
The result showdown aroused fears of another conflict – not between east and west, but within Tripoli itself.
As the anniversary approaches, the streets of the capital was bordered with the Red, black and the green flags adopted after the fall of Gaddafi.
Concerts and fireworks are planned for Friday – one day late due to bad weather – in The place Tripoli Martyrs, where Gaddafi gave a famous desperate speech before the “February 17 revolution” won power.
Oil and poverty
Politics void that followed the NATO-backed uprising sparked a bitter power struggle fueled by regional and tribal rivalries, as well as the involvement of outside groups.
And despite the country’s vast oil wealth – the largest proven reserves in Africa – many Libyans live in poverty.
“The situation has even gotten worse,” Ihad Doghman, 26, told Agence-France Presse (AFP).
Civil servant by day and grocer by night, he keeps down two jobs, like many of his compatriots, car ” it’s the only one way to cope.”
Since the fall of Gaddafi, Libya has had no fewer than nine governments and two full-scale civil wars – but has yet to hold a presidential election.
According to the parliament it is latest movepro-Bashagha armed groups in Misrata – his hometown and that of Dbeibah – converged on Tripoli in a show of force.
relative peace
The rise in tensions could threaten what has been a long time of relative peace, since a historic ceasefire in October 2020 with the support of Turkey has officially ended General Khalifa Haftar’s Eastern putschism year-Long bid to grab the capital.
This posed the way for The UN-led peace efforts that saw the appointment of Dbeibah, a year this month ago head of a new unity government with a warrant of lead the country in the December 24 elections.
But bitter quarrels over the legal basis of polls and attendance of candidates for the division – including Dbeibah as well as Bashagha – led them to be indefinitely postponed.
Despite the setbacks, Libyan expert Jalel Harchaoui said the country has seen progress on several fronts.
“Libya has not had a major exchange of fire since June 2020,” he said.
“Among the elites, many mortals enemies two years ago talk to each other and in some cases making alliances. This represents the start of reconciliation.”
In December, just a few days before the elections, Bashagha had traveled to Benghazi to meet Haftar – another controversial presidential candidate – in what he said was a gesture of national reconciliation.
Haftar’s forces have since backed Bashagha’s appointment as prime minister.
And now that he has won the support of the High Council of State based in Tripoli, body who has often opposed the Eastern parliamentBashagha has until February 24 to former a government.
Given the recent tumultuous crisis in the country’s historyla next question will be whether Dbeibah will go peacefully.
