On 6 March, War on the Rocks published an article by Libya specialist Jalel Harchaoui entitled ‘Libya’s Fragile Deadlock’. Harchaoui examined the uneasy political deadlock that has emerged in a still-divided Libya, exploring various foreign efforts to influence and sway solutions to Libya’s current situation. For example, Harchaoui highlighted how the US has ‘worked both sides’, working closely with the Government of National Unity (GNU) Prime Minister Abdul Hameed Dabaiba while reportedly assisting the Government of National Stability (GNS) in counter-terrorism efforts. Harchaoui says that the US has been trying to influence Libyan stakeholders to stop working with Russia, noting this as one of the aims of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Bill Burns’ ‘whirlwind’ visit in January. Harchaoui argues that foreign powers including Turkey, Egypt, Russia, and the UAE are unlikely to tolerate 'any substantive departure from the current status quo’. He says that if the US is genuinely interested in ‘constructive change in libya’, it must be ready to ‘spend political capital to jolt its regional friends out of their dogged inertia’.
Read the full article here.