Libyan leaders agree to form new unified government
Benghazi, Libya Reuters Three key Libyan leaders said on Sunday they had agreed on the “necessity” of forming a new unified government that would supervise long-delayed elections. A political process to resolve more than a decade of conflict in Libya has been stalled since an election scheduled for December, 2021, collapsed amid disputes over the […]
Libyan factions pause Tripoli battle with 27 dead
Tripoli, LibyaReuters Two powerful armed factions battled in Libya’s capital on Tuesday in the city’s worst violence this year, but the deadly clashes calmed after one side released a commander whose detention had triggered the fighting. A Tripoli health agency said 27 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the violence, without saying […]
UN Libya mission warns of violence after push for new interim government
Tripoli, LibyaReuters The United Nations Libya mission warned on Thursday against “unilateral initiatives” to address the country’s political stalemate after two legislative bodies proposed creating a new interim government as a precursor to elections. The United Nations wants a clear route to elections as part of a lasting resolution of Libya’s 12-year-long crisis but opponents […]
Explainer: Untangling the crisis in Libya
Reuters Libya’s worst fighting for two years suddenly hit the capital, Tripoli, on Saturday. This explains what led to the violence, why it matters, and how things may play out. How did Libya fall apart?Libya’s fault lines surfaced as local groups took different positions in the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. An attempted […]
Tripoli calm, Libya riven after worst fighting in years
Tripoli, LibyaReuters Charred cars and buildings pockmarked by bullets scarred Libya’s capital on Sunday, the day after intense fighting killed 32 people yet appeared to leave the Tripoli government more firmly entrenched. Battles raged across the city throughout Saturday as forces aligned with the parliament-backed administration of Fathi Bashagha failed to take control of the […]
Deadly battles erupt across Tripoli, raising fears of wider Libya war
Tripoli, Libya Reuters Rival factions battled across Libya’s capital on Saturday in the worst fighting there for two years as an eyewitness said forces aligned with a parliament-backed administration moved on the city to try to take power. The Tripoli government’s health ministry gave a preliminary death toll of 12 people, with 87 injured, but […]
Fighting rips through Libyan capital, killing 13
Tripoli, Libya Reuters Rival factions fought each other in Tripoli overnight and into Friday, killing 13 people in the Libyan capital’s worst clashes for two years as a political standoff festers. Fighters exchanged fire in a central district where several government and international agencies, along with diplomatic missions, are based, and clashes spread to the […]
UN adviser tells Libya it must preserve calm, stability
Reuters The UN Secretary-General’s special adviser on Libya on Sunday called on both Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah and his parliament-designated successor Fathi Bashagha to preserve calm and stability. Dbeibah, prime minister of the UN-recognised Government of National Unity, has said he will hand over power only after an election and has rejected parliament’s […]
UN demands Libya inquiry into shooting of escaping migrants
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Libyan security forces used “unnecessary and disproportionate” force to detain African migrants, shooting dead some of those trying to escape, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday as it demanded an inquiry into the violence. Hundreds of migrants and refugees have waited outside a United Nations centre in Tripoli in recent days […]
Fear and hope on Libya’s reopened highway
Sirte, LibyaReuters The green bus rumbling from Benghazi to Tripoli this week was the first to traverse the main highway between Libya’s two biggest cities in years – the delayed result of a peace push that is running into trouble. The coastal highway was reopened last week after months of negotiation as part of a […]