Natural gas exports from Libya's Mellitah complex to Italy have been halted since March 2 after rival militias clashed in the region, Libya's National Oil Corp. and Italy's ENI said March 3, Reuters reported.
Libya's ongoing political evolution represents a logical return to a system prioritizing local identities and politics over the dictates of a distant government in Tripoli.
Italian Consul Guido de Sanctis is satisfied with the immediate steps taken by Libyan authorities to protect him after a Jan. 12 assassination attempt and pursue the attackers, Libyan news agency WAL reported Jan. 13.
Violence between the Toubou and Zuwaya tribes in southeastern Libya could increase unless the fledgling government finds a way to deal with tribal disputes.
The Libyan army will go to Bani Walid to impose order following Oct. 17 deadly clashes, army Chief of Staff Yussef al-Mangoush said Oct. 18, Reuters reported.
Militias operating as a coalition and affiliated with the Libyan Defense Ministry shelled the town of Bani Walid on Oct. 17, a spokesman for the Bani Walid fighters said, Reuters reported.
Following the ouster and death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in October 2011, Tripoli has struggled to maintain its hold over LIbya's various regional authority centers, especially in the eastern city of Benghazi. The ongoing competition for power between the central government and regional power centers, the risk posed by persistent elements of pro-Gadhafi loyalists and the growing presence of radical Islamic jihadists taking advantage of an increasingly distracted central authority will shape Libya's future.
