Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi called for a UN resolution that would mandate international forces step in in Libya where ISIS has made significant progress. Yesterday, Egypt’s Air Force bombed ISIS forces in Libya after twenty-one Egyptian Christians were killed.
Libya has been struggling in the post-Gaddafi era. While many Americans think of Libya and terrorism in terms of the Benghazi killings back in September of 2012, the country has had many other run-ins with terrorisms and the country has been largely unstable. There are two major governments in the country. The recognized government, which includes a democratically elected Parliament, has been meeting in Tobruk ever since the capital city of Tripoli has been overrun with rebel groups. A rival Islamic government was set up and is headquartered in Tripoli. The new government was started by a coalition known as Libya Dawn.
The Libyan Civil War has largely devolved into one of “Islamists vs. Federalists/Democracy” due in part to the how Libya tried to guide itself following Gaddafi’s fall. The General National Congress was set up and supposed to run from July of 2012 to January of 2014. The GNC was dominated by Islamists political groups. However, the elections for the Libyan House of Representatives gave power to those who favored a strong government and not in support of an Islamic government. However, a minority of the GNC, made up of Islamic forces, disputed the election’s results and continued to meet while claiming to be the actual government. This group continues to meet in Tripoli.
Libya’s President of the House of Representatives spoke to the United Nations last September and called on the UN to either stand with Libya militarily or let them do what needs to be done. There is a UN meeting regarding Libya tomorrow. Now, the world has to deal with Libya’s instability which is feeding into the larger problem of ISIS.