Urgent need to rein in Libyan militias

The Libyan government cannot allow its authority in the country to be continually challenged. The new government may be fragile, but it cannot let independent militias to become an accepted permanent feature of the Libyan scene.

One such independent militia in Benghazi calls itself the Libya Shield Brigade. Over the past few days, its base in Benghazi was surrounded by protesters and more than 30 people were killed as these civilians rose up to demonstrate against the continued presence of the militia in their city. The Libyan army failed to take control of the situation and yesterday, the Libyan army chief-of-staff Yousuf Al Mangoush resigned in a closed-door session of the General National Congress.

Later, the army said it would take control of all bases run by militias and claimed that the Libyan Shield Brigade’s base was already in the hands of a special forces unit of the city. However, it is not clear if such “control” is just a face-saving exercise, which leaves the militia largely alone or if it means a genuine end to the militia’s ability to impose its will on the population and authorities.

It was not a good sign that the Congress did not directly criticise the Libya Shield Brigade, which raises fears that the authorities do not want to tackle these powerful armed groups head-on and will accept the necessary destruction of their authority that will happen if the Congress continues to allow independent armed militias to dominate large parts of the country. If the government refuses to act, it may well be forced to do so by its people who are growing increasingly angry at the government’s foolish tolerance of such violent forces.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Benghazi last year to fling out several armed groups which were responsible for continued lawlessness in the city. People’s anger was further compounded when illegal militias laid siege to various ministries in April to try to change their policies.