The past years have seen no end to the turbulence plaguing Libya since the ouster of Gadhafi in 2011 with armed factions vying for control of the country’s strategic assets and United Nations-facilitated negotiations leading nowhere
While the self-styled Libyan National Army of General Khalifa Haftar continues, unsuccessfully, to try to take over the country militarily, the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez Serraj in Tripoli, propped up by militias opposed to Haftar, retains control over major institutions and sources of national wealth.
Weapons of increasing sophistication and lethality are flowing to the opposing sides, in violation of U.N. sanctions and pitting foreign powers against each other, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt (with French support) backing Haftar, and Turkey and Qatar backing Serraj.
Meanwhile, facing a stagnant economy and constant threats to infrastructure, the Libyan people are caught in the crossfire of this protracted jockeying.
Unchecked migration and the threat of extremist groups taking hold in the country’s contested spaces likewise make Libya’s internal situation a security concern for Europe and the United States.
Solving the civil war in Libya would restore needed stability to a strategically vital part of northern Africa while laying the groundwork for the prosperity of the Libyan people.
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The event’s was moderator by Michael E. O’Hanlon. The penalists were Jeffrey Feltman, Frederic Wehrey, Giovanna De Maio, and Karim Mezran. Questions from the audience followed the panelists’ conversation.
Michael E. O’Hanlon – Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Director of Research and The Sydney Stein, Jr. Chair
Jeffrey Feltman – John C. Whitehead Visiting Fellow in International Diplomacy Foreign Policy
Frederic Wehrey – Senior Fellow, Middle East Program – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Giovanna De Maio – Visiting Fellow – Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe
Karim Mezran – Resident Senior Fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East – The Atlantic Council
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