Missy Ryan of the Washington Post published the following succinct overview of the problems facing Libya in reaching a deal to end the conflict.
Soon Libya may have no recognized government at all, if negotiators fail to meet a Sept. 20 deadline for clinching a United Nations-brokered political deal to create a unity government which, officials hope, can end a tangled conflict that has nearly bankrupted this oil-rich nation in the four years after the NATO-backed ouster of Moammar Gaddafi.Mohamed Benruwin, an academic who is helping draft Libya’s new constitution, said Libyans allowed their inexperience at governing and their internal divisions to undermine the country’s natural advantages: oil, a small population and proximity to Europe. “We’re in a position where either we’re going to win, or we lose it all,” he said in an interview in the city of Misurata. If a deal is struck, Libyans will face a host of potential land mines in the first few weeks. They must create consensus on a new cabinet, including coveted military and financial positions, and sort through legislation passed by each side after the schism took place....Obama turned to Zeidan. “Tell me how many soldiers are loyal to you . . . and I’ll tell if you have a government or not,” the president said, according to Libyan and Western officials who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic deliberations. Obama’s question remains equally important today. Since 2011, no Libyan leader has been able to tame a vast array of armed groups, including rival military forces, tribal factions and renegade oil police, on both sides of the country. “Libya will continue to remain unstable, polarized and marred by violence for as long as the issue of widespread armed militias having de facto full control over discrete pockets of territory remains untackled,” said Jason Pack, a researcher of Libyan history at Cambridge University and president of Libya-Analysis.com.To read the full article click here.