North Africa

The international community must act rapidly and effectively to prevent an all-out war between the various Libyan militias and their foreign backers.

Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia have escalated after Cairo forged closer ties with Addis Ababa’s rival, Somalia.

A weak slate of alternative candidates and the near certainty of Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s victory will do little to inspire participation.

When reflecting over the last decade of the US policy, especially in the Trump and Biden administrations, three consistent trends emerge: insufficient support for the UN political process to restore legitimacy to Libya’s political; leadership, repeated appeals to eastern warlord and head of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar to participate in a political process; and most consequentially for the United States, a seeming lack of attention to Russia’s increased presence in Libya.

It has been more than thirteen years since the outbreak of the 2011 Libyan revolution and the moment when Italy reluctantly supported the NATO-led intervention that imposed a no-fly zone over Libya purportedly to protect the population from Muammar Gaddafi’s retaliation.

The two main armed conflicts of the last two years—in Gaza and Ukraine—have led to the belief that international politics are ruled again by sheer force and that the United Nations is no longer a relevant actor.