Libya

Three lawsuits in U.S. federal court represent an inflection point in the global effort to hold Libyan war criminals legally accountable for torture and extrajudicial killings.

As the fighting enters Tripoli, the United States must act to prevent a disaster.

Editor’s Note: After years of civil war in Libya, the recent plan to hold elections there seems like a rare ray of sunshine, creating hope that the country may be on the path to peace. Jason Pack and Rhiannon Smith of Libya-Analysis, however, urge caution. They point out that because of a lack of judicial accountability and security, among other problems, elections risk exacerbating violence rather than resolving it.

Daniel Byman

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To many Libyan households, the top security threat plaguing their daily lives isn’t the risk of being caught in the crossfire between contending militias, falling victim to a jihadi group, or being kidnapped for ransom. A more unrelenting consequence of Libya’s dysfunctional politics is its monetary crisis. The principal manifestations—chronic shortage of dinar banknotes, along with a weak valuation of the Libyan currency in the black market—first emerged in 2014. Unlike the ongoing civil war, which also began in 2014, the monetary crisis has consistently intensified through the months.