John Kerry and Boris Johnson have hosted crisis talks with Libya’s leaders in London in an attempt to ward off the collapse of the country’s war-torn economy.
The World Bank has said Libya’s economy is near collapse as the civil war worsens and bank reserves plummet.
In a US-led initiative, the US secretary of state and UK foreign secretary, joined by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, planned to urge Libya’s embattled prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj, to enact drastic reforms.
Libya’s economy has atrophied and with oil exports down, the bulk of the 6 million-strong population depends on fast-depleting foreign reserves.
One western official said Sarraj would be urged to mend fences with the Central Bank of Libya governor, Saddek al-Kabir, who has accused the prime minister of failing to formulate an economic policy. “It is making clear the severity of the situation and the need to act,” the official said.
But some fear the window for remedial action may be closing. Six months after arriving in Tripoli, Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA), appointed by a UN-chaired commission, has failed to win over the population.
Sarraj’s administration is one of three vying for power. In Tripoli, he is facing off against the self-declared National Salvation government, which captured the Rixos government complex in an attempted coup two weeks ago.
A third government operates through the elected parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk. Forces there, led by the controversial general Khalifa Haftar, last month seized the country’s key oil ports, and while oil exports have since doubled, it has left Tobruk controlling the bulk of the industry.
Last week, London defence analyst Jane’s reported that Tobruk’s hand had been strengthened after its key ally, the United Arab Emirates, opened an airbase to support ground troops in eastern Libya.
With the GNA unable to form a security force of its own, Tripoli is at the mercy of warring militias, with murders, kidnappings and firefights a daily occurrence.
The GNA’s single success has been an ongoing offensive by allied militias, backed by US airstrikes, which has destroyed the bulk of Islamic State forces at their main base in Sirte.
But the government’s lack of authority has resulted in a surge in migrant smuggling, while the capital is facing power cuts and inflation, with cash shortages provoking riots at the few banks still open.
Nadia Ramadan, a Tripoli resident, said: “Life is getting harder all the time. We are literally hearing loud shootings almost every night, there is no money and food inflation.”
US officials are conscious of the effect Libya’s chaos may have on the closely contested presidential election, with Hillary Clinton, as the former secretary of state, having overseen America’s 2011 Libya bombing intervention that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
Barack Obama said in April that failure to follow up intervention with support for Libya’s fledgling democracy was the worst mistake of his presidency, and the administration hopes to show that some progress is being made.
