Under the yoke of the militias in Libya

Abdel Ghani Al-Kikli, leader of the Stability Support Apparatus (SSA) — one of the militias officially integrated into Dbeibah’s Government of National Accord (GNA) — was assassinated at the headquarters of Brigade 444, another armed group that immediately took advantage of the situation to attack SSA positions, causing most of the fighters to flee.

Conflict between mafia clans

Dbeibah said that the time for militias was now over. He then tried to attack the Special Deterrence Forces, often called the Rada Force, a Salafist group responsible to Osama Njeem, indicted by the ICC (International Criminal Court) for crimes against humanity. Njeem was arrested in Italy and then released and exfiltrated to Libya with the blessing of Meloni’s government.

Not only did the 444 brigade not succeed in defeating the Rada Force, but this attack greatly weakened the GNA, since half of its members resigned and militias from the city of Zawiya especially supported the Rada Force. These inter-militia clashes testify to Dbeibah’s desire to obtain absolute power in the image of his rival General Haftar, who with his sons controls the eastern part of the country with an iron fist.

Dbeibah, a businessman from Misrata, made his fortune thanks to the good relations that his family clan had with Muammar Gaddafi. His accession to power in 2021 was linked to the organisation of elections that were to be held within eight months. Four years later, there are still no elections. Dbeibah, for his part, has not wasted his time in consolidating his network of corruption, which is in strong competition with Al-Kikli, and is much more effective in plundering state resources fed by the oil windfall.

Poverty on the rise

Following the ceasefire signed between the two militias, a precarious calm reigns again in the Libyan capital. But these clashes have exacerbated popular discontent. Demonstrations were organised in several neighbourhoods of Tripoli. The latter converged on the Martyrs’ Square bringing together more than 4,000 people, and these mobilizations continued in the following days despite repression. Slogans against Dbeibah and for the unification of the country were chanted.

While the political and military elites join forces or clash to siphon off the state’s wealth, the situation of the population is deteriorating greatly. Mohamed El Hajoui, the GNA’s Minister of Economy, says that nearly 40% of Libyan women are below the poverty line. The inter-militia clashes have at least had the merit of revealing the rejection of the leaders by a large part of the Libyan population.

14 June 2025

Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.