Libyan Déjà Vu: A New Storm of Anti-Government Protests and Looting Breaks over Bani-Walid

After the assassination of the American ambassador in Libya, contradictions that could worsen the already difficult situation were intensified. In the capitol, crowds of demonstrators disrupted procedures for the adoption of a new parliament; a general battle is planned for tomorrow in Bani-Walid; and in Benghazi, chaos and looting reign.

Since the overthrowing of M. Gadhafi, a unique form of democracy has arisen in Libya. So yesterday, during the new government’s review procedures, a crowd of discontents broke into the meeting hall and disrupted the event. About 150 people took part in the attack, having arrived in the capitol, Tripoli, from the neighboring towns of Zawiya and Zuwara. The citizens expressed their dissatisfaction with a statement issued by Libya’s new prime minister regarding the composition of the parliament. The statement did not include the Zawiyan candidate for Minister of Oil. Furthermore, no representatives of Mahmoud Jibril’s party (the former head of the NTC) appeared anywhere on the candidate list. In the end, the head of Libyan government, Mustafa Abu Shaghouri, withdrew the list of new cabinet ministers and promised to submit an updated version on Sunday.

Meanwhile, substantial forces have swarmed to the recalcitrant town of Bani-Walid, where local clashes have been occurring. A general attack has been planned for this Saturday on the “bulwark of Gadhafi.” According to Libyan media sources, tanks have already arrived in the town, in addition to “Grad” rockets, hundreds of pickup trucks armed with machine guns and about 1,000 government soldiers.

On the other hand, the Warfalla tribe stated its intention to protect Bani-Walid to the last, and was joined by representatives from Sirte and other tribes. The occasion for the conflict was the recent death of Omran Shaaban, the insurgent who, according the official story, caught Gadhafi. Let us recall that he had been captured in the town of Bani-Walid and was tortured to death. The authorities demanded that Bani-Walid extradite the murderer Shaaban before October 5, but the city elders flatly refused to comply. If nothing changes before tomorrow, there will be an attempt to seize Bani-Walid. Given the experience of the Libyan War, during which rebels repeatedly assaulted the “Gadhafi stronghold,” even with NATO air support the outcome of the new war will be easy to predict.

And the situation is no better in Benghazi, the birthplace of the recent revolution. After the assassination of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, authorities disbanded the militia of Ansar al-Sharia, which was suspected in the attack on the embassy. The condition of the State Department was such that it threatened to bring in the U.S. Marines if the Libyans could not find the killers themselves. In the end, the Islamic militia was disbanded and, to put it simply, was sent home along with its weapons. So it turned out that the most militarily effective Libyan faction was in opposition to the central government. Benghazi has been flooded with a wave of attacks on police officers. “Ansar-ites” have been showering outposts with grenades, both hand-thrown and rocket-propelled, and have been killing government officials left and right. On the other hand, in the absence of any sort of control over the streets (earlier, this function was carried out by the “Ansar-ites”), crime rates have soared. Libyan media has published the appeals of hospital doctors, who are asking for the return of Ansar al-Sharia’s Islamic militia. According to them, after the departure of the Islamic militia, it became impossible to work: drugs have been stolen from hospitals; criminals, requiring cures for their injured accomplices have threatened doctors with weapons, etc.

Against this backdrop, it has come to light that the U.S. is planning an operation on Libyan soil to eliminate the participants of the embassy attack. Possible scenarios range from precision drone strikes to operations by forces on the ground. The new Libyan authorities have already stated that they will not allow a foreign military presence on their land — but at this point, who’s asking them?