On 2 January, Arab News published an article by North Africa researcher Hafed al-Ghwell, titled ‘Libya slowly settling into a permanent stalemate’. In his aritcle, al-Ghwell explores the issues he believes are behind Libya’s current political stalemate, in what he describes as ‘a confluence of internal power struggles and external interventions’. Opposed Libyan factions, he says, operate ‘with a level of autonomy that undermines any national authority’. This is exacerbated by the battle for control over oil, as well as ‘inconsistent policies and competing interests among foreign powers’. Al-Ghwell also cites an ‘eroded’ public trust resulting from the ‘failure to hold credible elections and the opaque management of the country’s wealth’. He concludes that ‘a robust international strategy that offers incentives and imposes sanctions is essential, alongside the establishment of legitimate state institutions through a government elected by, and accountable to, the Libyan people’.
Read the full article here.