Libya: The Keys of the Conflict

From 2011 begins a wave of protests in the Arab world known as the “Arab Spring”. In the case of Libya, the fall of the Gaddafi regime led to the division of the country into two governments and two parliaments and an intermittent confrontation between armed factions, with regional and international support.

The diplomat at the Spanish embassy in Libya, Sergio R. Carranza Förster, explains the evolution of the Libyan conflict that has lasted for nine years: the first Libyan war (February – October 2011), which led to the overthrow of Gaddafi regime (with the help of NATO forces) and the creation of the National Transitional Council, which was to lead the country; the second war (March 2014), which begins with the polarization of society as a result of the elections (June 2014) and the launch of Operation Dignity by Kalifa Hafter, head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), countering irregular militias; and the third war (April 2019), which begins with the offensive on Tripoli by the LNA and continues to this day.

Carranza stresses that although in the Berlin Process (September 2019) and the Berlin Conference (January 2020) a truce had been agreed between Turkey and Russia, countries with a direct presence in the country, the conflict has not ended and there are already 135,000 people living on the front line and 355,000 internally displaced.

Sergio R. Carranza Förster is a diplomat, Arabist, and Doctor of Law. Author of the book “History of Egyptian Islam and its failed rise to power”, his professional career includes his passage through the International Legal Department and the Middle East Sub-Directorate General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as in the Cabinet of the Presidency of the Government, where he has been assigned to the Spanish embassies in Nairobi, Cairo and Tripoli. He has also served in Brussels, in the Counter-Terrorism Division and in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Common Security and Defense Policy of the European External Action Service.