The Prospects for Conflict-Resolution in Libya - Interviews with Experts : Africa Wide

Abstract

The signing of a political agreement between Libya's two rival governments in December 2015 was the nation's first step toward achieving elusive stability. Since then, pro-government militias have been battling the Islamic State (ISIS), assisted by Western air strikes, finally wrestling the group from its coastal stronghold of Sirte in June 2016. However, according to Dr Arsalan Alshinawi, Malta's former diplomat to Libya and Tunisia and currently senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Malta, the civil war in Libya has to be seen in the context of Libya's internal characteristics and the legacy of Gaddafi's regime, together with implications of regional and international inter-rivalry, and the role of the "massive arms industry."