Libya’s Power Players
- Don Juice
- Apr 19, 2017
- 2 min read
There are so many different players on the Libyan stage that it would take forever to talk about them all. However I've decided to give you readers out there a little background information on three major individuals involved in the ongoing power struggle in Libya. Those individuals are Fayez al-Sarraj, Khalifa al-Ghawil and Khalifa Haftar.
Fayez al-Sarraj
Fayez is the prime minister for the UN backed Government of National Accord which was jump started by former envoy Bernardino Leon. The goal was to have a government that can represent all of Libya by having deputies to the prime minister from different regions. However the Tobruk government which is the house of representatives rejected the deal because the amendments in the UN deal allowed the new government to fire senior officials, and the house representatives saw this as an attempt to get rid of their Popular Army chief Khalifa Hiftar who I will discuss later on. The GNA (Government of National Accord) is based in Tripoli and controls a number of militias but is still unable to unify the country.
Khalifa al-Ghawi
Another Tripoli based Administration is the National Salvation Government which is led by Khalifa al-Ghawil representing the more Islamist bloc of the political spectrum. After losing in the 2014 elections, instead of giving up power to the council of deputies the NSG decided to stayed in power and decided to take over critical infrastructure and cause havoc in the capital which changed the situation for the worse. Recently Ghawil and his government was pushed out the capital and then they came back later that year but then got pushed out again with Ghawil being injured in the fighting.
Khalifa Haftar
Hiftar was a loyal soldier to Gadhafi and became his chief officer but during the war with Chas in the 80’s, he was abandoned by Gadhafi after he was captured. The CIA swopped in and convinced him to work for America, He then became a refugee in the United States after a failed coup attempt against Gadhafi . A lot of people don’t know this but he used to live in Virginia close to the CIA headquarters. During the uprising in 2011 he became a rebel leader after returning to Libya to help overthrow Gadhafi. He emerged back on the scene in 2014 after attacking the Libyan Parliament and launching an attack on Benghazi to take it back from Islamic militants whom he vehemently opposes. Some feel he is trying to become a dictator like Sisi in Egypt and there may be truth in that but he is seen by many as a national hero from his opposition to the many political Islamic groups in the country just like Sisi.
The fighting in Libya continues with no end in sight of, and as that fighting brews on these power players and others will continue to grab power whenever they see the opportunity.
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