Libya’s Unity Government Leaders Power Struggle

Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 overthrow of long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi by NATO-backed forces.

From 2014, it has had two competing administrations, one in Tripoli backed by powerful militias and the other about 1,000km (620 miles) away in the port city of Tobruk.

Over recent days, Tripoli’s airspace has been intermittently closed to stop the Presidency Council, which has been based in Tunisia, from arriving by air.

Leaders of Libya’s new unity government have arrived in the capital, Tripoli, by boat in an attempt to take control.

Libya’s UN envoy called for “a peaceful and orderly handover”.

But hardliners in the coalition that controls Tripoli are opposed to the UN-brokered deal aimed at reconciling a nation split by five years of conflict.

In a televised address, the head of the Tripoli authorities, Khalifa Ghweil, said he regarded the politicians as interlopers and said they were not welcome.

He urged “the illegitimate outsiders to surrender and be safe in our custody or to return to where they came from”.

Late on Wednesday, journalists from a television channel supportive of authorities in Tripoli said, it was taken off air after gunmen stormed its offices. It was not clear to whom the gunmen were affiliated. Libya is in a unsettled status.