Joining a militia is still the most attractive job opportunity for many young Libyans. It requires no qualifications, pays three times the wages of any other job and has ideal working hours— about seven per month. Official statistics indicate that about one tenth of the workforce in Libya works as armed men, while the estimated number of militia members officially registered at the government is nearly 20,000 people.

Joining a militia is still the most attractive job opportunity for many young Libyans. It requires no qualifications, pays three times the wages of any other job and has ideal working hours— about seven per month. Official statistics indicate that about one tenth of the workforce in Libya works as armed men, while the estimated number of militia members officially registered at the government is nearly 20,000 people.

This year, the Libyan government has already spent US$ one billion on militias, according to Libyan economists, with each militiaman earning LYD 1,000-4,000 (US $800 – $3,200) per month, to fill-in the security gap experienced by a non-existent state army and police force. Yet security risks in Libya worsen by the day and the number of assassinations and bombings carried out by militias, which the state has failed to restrain, is on the rise.

The kidnapping of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan for several hours on October 10 from his hotel in Tripoli by an armed group was proof enough that armed militias are working according to various ideological agendas and contributing to the very insecurity they are meant to be tackling.

International concern

“Armed militias continued to commit serious human rights abuses with impunity, including arbitrary arrests, arbitrary detention, torture and unlawful killings,” reads Amnesty International’s 2013 report on the situation in Libya. “Impunity remained entrenched, both for gross human rights violations committed in the past and for ongoing human rights abuses by armed militias.”

Following the kidnapping of Zeidan, a number of embassies and diplomatic missions declared intentions to vacate Libyan territory, a move suggesting that their countries expect more security breaches in the coming period.

In the last two months, Benghazi witnessed a series of bombings and acts of violence, most recently the targeting of the North Benghazi Court and the headquarters of the Directorate of Foreign Affairs by a car bomb, which led to nearly destroying the two buildings.

Another car bomb also targeted the Sweden Consulate in Benghazi on October 11, which led to a massive collapse in the consulate building, as well as material damage in some neighboring buildings and vehicles.  The Swedish Foreign Ministry reported no casualties.

Bribes to resolve the crisis

The wave of armed violence has extended to oil ports, such as those in Zuwetina and Ras Lanuf, causing the level of Libyan production to fall by nearly one million barrels per day.

While Libyans are waiting for a solution to this crisis, the state, represented by the General National Congress (GNC) and Ibrahim Jadran, a former official at the Oil Installations Guard and head of the Cyrenaica Political Bureau, who along with his brother closed export oil fields and export ports eastern Libya, have been exchanging accusations. Jadran accuses the government and the GNC of buying him off to end the sit-in and open the ports.

The GNC member in charge of the energy file admits paying Jadran from his own money in order to open the fields and ports closed for some time, which still have not been opened, despite the payment.

No discipline

Less than a month ago, Zeidan said before the GNC that the Ministry of Interior had formed security forces of 19,000 elements, but policemen and officers tasked with guarding the ministries and official institutions quickly disappeared.  “Even those who guard the prime ministry or the GNC headquarters are sometimes not found,” added Zeidan.

During a speech on state-owned television on Friday evening, Zeidan described his kidnapping as “a barbaric, savage and cowardly act,” saying: “I believe that moving over 100 heavily armed vehicles to close the area of the hotels without an order from the leadership is a coup attempt against legitimacy.”

Zeidan repeatedly reminded the Libyans of the worst scenario, namely to Afghanize and Somalize Libya, saying his kidnappers did not want Libya to be powerful. “They have thwarted the process of forming the army and police and want to terrorize the judiciary and the state,” claimed Zeidan.

Zeidan however did not directly name the faction he meant, although he acknowledged that a GNC member belonging to that faction threatened to kidnap him hours before the operation, in order to force him to resign since his GNC political opponents had failed to pass a motion of no confidence against him.