Author: David D. Kirkpatrick / Source: New York Times
Reuters
A military leader who has vowed for years that he would seize control of Libya ordered his troops on Thursday to march on the capital, Tripoli.
By nightfall, they had come within 25 miles of the city and a powerful rival militia was racing to stop them, raising the possibility of renewed civil war.
The advance, by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, appeared to mark a new and possibly decisive stage in the power struggle that has torn Libya apart since the Arab Spring uprising of 2011.
The move all but obviated plans for peace talks this month among competing Libyan factions. The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, had arrived in Tripoli for that purpose the previous day. On Thursday he urged “calm and restraint.”
“I am deeply concerned by the military movement taking place in Libya and the risk of confrontation,” he said in a message posted on Twitter. “There is no military solution. Only intra-Libyan dialogue can solve Libyan problems.”
In a joint statement on Thursday, the United States, Britain, France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates said they “urge all parties to immediately de-escalate tensions” and “will hold accountable any Libyan faction that precipitates further civil conflict.” The statement did not specify who had instigated the latest confrontation.
The United Nations Security Council was expected to meet on the crisis on Friday.
In an online video, General Hifter, 75, nonetheless directed his troops to continue their march.
“To our army stationed to enter Tripoli, today with God’s help we complete our triumphant path,” he declared. “We respond to the call of our beloved people in our beloved capital.”
On Thursday, his militia said it had taken three towns on the outskirts of Tripoli — Gharyan, 60 miles to the south; Surman, 50 miles to the west; and Aziziya, 25 miles to the southwest.
News reports indicated that there had been only minor violence, and it was unclear to what extent General Hifter had struck bargains with local authorities to allow his troops to enter, or to what extent he fully controlled those towns.
Libya has been plunged into chaos since the ouster of the dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011, with rival cities and militias competing for power. The bedlam has slashed the country’s oil production, drained much of its sovereign wealth, offered havens to Islamist…
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