Oil, Libyans' Bargaining Chip

Conflict over Libya’s oil sector has become a proxy for numerous other conflicts that are working themselves out in post-uprising Libya. 

There was great hope in early 2012 that oil and gas revenues, which had rebounded fairly quickly after the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi, would allow Libya to finance its own reconstruction and transition to democracy. Beneath this optimism, however, were troubling indications of the problems that were to beset Libya’s oil industry over the coming months. On April 23, 2012, protesters occupied the Benghazi headquarters of the Arabian Gulf Oil Company, demanding greater transparency over oil revenues and more jobs for the city’s residents. While this protest ended two weeks later with little impact on oil production, the grievances that fueled it continue to drive the protests, strikes, and violence that are causing dramatic declines in Libya’s oil production and associated revenues. Instead of facilitating a democratic transition, the oil industry has been plagued by ongoing conflict that has come to reflect and embody many other unresolved issues in post-revolution Libya.

You can read the full article on Sada's website here.

A Crumbling Salafi Strategy

This is linking to an article I published at Sada in August, 2013.

Ennahda has sought to engage Tunisia’s Salafi groups, but that approach has only undermined the party’s authority amid growing violence.

In the wake of its electoral victory, Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party, Ennahda, opened the political space to conservative movements that stood further to their political right. The party encouraged Salafi groups to renounce violence, organize parties, and join the political process. This was a radical change from the stance of the interim government, which had denied permits to Salafi parties, questioning their commitment to democratic principles. Ennahda members and activists were optimistic that involvement in the give and take of democratic politics would incentivize the Salafis to moderate their more radical views. However, after the combination of two high-profile political assassinations and escalating jihadi and vigilante violence has triggered a deepening political crisis, Ennahda’s strategy of accommodation appears to have backfired.

You can read the full article on Sada's website here.