Libya Armed Groups Agree to Leave Tripoli After Deadly Fighting

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Facts

  • Libyan interior minister Imed Trabelsi announced Wednesday that, following negotiations, the armed groups involved in the deadly weekend clashes in capital Tripoli have agreed to withdraw from the city.1
  • The deal will see the General Security Force, Special Deterrence Force, Brigade 444, Brigade 111, and the Stability Support Authority quit Tripoli after more than a decade of controlling it.2
  • While publicly funded, the militias are independent of ministries running Libya's military or its interior affairs, and they are often involved in heavily armed clashes in Tripoli. One skirmish last August left 55 dead.3
  • Trabelsi has said the police and criminal investigators will now replace these groups, which have tormented Libya ever since the NATO-backed ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 left it in chaos.4
  • Libya is currently run by two administrations; military warlord Khalifa Haftar's in the east and interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah's, which is internationally recognized and based in the west in Tripoli.5
  • Trabelsi also stated that after the armed groups leave Tripoli and its neighboring cities by April 9 (at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan), there 'will be no more armed groups and no more checkpoints' on Libya's streets.6

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2CGTN Africa, 3Barrons, 4BBC News, 5Yahoo News and 6Africanews.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Africanews. The successful negotiations to remove the armed groups from Tripoli could mark the beginning of the end of the current situation in Libya. The UN envoy has even asked opposing parties to agree to hold local elections across the country by the end of the year, while the Security Council has urged them to come together and create a coherent strategy to organize presidential and legislative elections that will bring peace and stability.
  • Narrative B, as provided by BBC News. Warring factions supported by foreign governments have struggled for power in Libya since the overthrow of Gaddafi in 2011. The security agreement in Tripoli is a positive first step towards a peaceful solution to the many problems of the troubled nation. However, it remains to be seen whether the path to peace will succeed.

Predictions