The aftermath of the 2011 Libyan civil war has been characterized by marked change in the social and political order of Libya after the overthrow and killing of Muammar Gaddafi in the civil war that was fought in Libya in 2011. The country has been subject to ongoing proliferation of weapons, Islamist insurgencies, sectarian violence, and lawlessness, with spillovers affecting neighboring countries, including Mali.
After the interim National Transitional Council (NTC) declared that the country had been liberated in October 2011, it began a process to form a new government, prepare for elections and prosecute former Gaddafi regime officials. In the absence of an organized military, armed militias of former rebels continued to assert their role as "guardians of the revolution" around the country, and there were reports of vigilante justice and sporadic clashes between rival militias. International organizations voiced concerns over the proliferation of weapons in the region, and the risk that they might fall into the hands of militant Islamists.
Elections were held in July 2012 to a General National Congress (GNC), which took power a month later, charged with organising a constituent assembly for authoring Libya's new constitution. The NTC was dissolved, and in November 2012 Ali Zeidan was sworn in as prime minister. In March 2014, Zeidan was ousted by the GNC, amid escalating conflict in the country. On 4 August 2014, the GNC was replaced by a newly elected House of Representatives (CoD), but on 25 August 2014, some members of the former GNC reconvened unilaterally and said they had elected Omar al-Hasi as prime minister, effectively leaving the country with two rival governments: the one proclaimed by the CoD in Tobruk and the one proclaimed by the claimant GNC in Tripoli.
Uprising and civil war
The popular uprising against the government of Gaddafi began in January 2011 as non-violent protests, simultaneously with other protests in the Arab Spring. Within weeks, violence broke out in clashes between police and protesters. In February, the National Transitional Council (NTC) was formed in an effort to consolidate efforts for change in the rule of Libya. Gaddafi forces lost control of several cities in eastern Libya, and a number of officials resigned or defected from his government. In March, Gaddafi forces launched a counteroffensive, and regained many of the cities that had been lost to opposition forces. In mid-March, tanks of Gaddafi forces rolled into the main remaining bastion of the opposition forces, Benghazi. At the same time, aircraft of the French Air Force entered Libyan airspace under the mandate of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, to prevent any attacks on the city. A multinational coalition launched a large scale air-based military intervention to disable the Gaddafi government's military capabilities and enforce the UN Security Council resolution. By the end of March, command of the coalition operations had been assumed by NATO under Operation Unified Protector.
The following months were characterized by a stalemate on the ground, as opposition fighters were unable to retake cities in western Libya. The stalemate was broken in August as opposition forces advanced on the cities surrounding Tripoli. By the end of August, opposition fighters had captured Tripoli, with little resistance from Gaddafi forces. The opposition then launched a series of campaigns against the last pockets of resistance by Gaddafi loyalists, and in October, Gaddafi and several other leading figures in his government were captured and killed in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte.
Events after Gaddafi's death
On 23 October 2011, the National Transitional Council officially declared that Libya had been liberated.
Libya's de facto Prime Minister, Mahmoud Jibril announced that consultations were under way to form an interim government within one month, followed by elections for a constitutional assembly within eight months and parliamentary and presidential elections to be held within a year after that. Jibril then stepped down to make place for elections and was succeeded as interim prime minister by Abdurrahim El-Keib after a brief period in which Jibril's deputy, Ali Tarhouni, had assumed his duties. El-Keib was elected by members of the National Transitional Council, gaining 26 out of 51 votes.
On 31 October 2011, the United Nations mandate authorizing international military action in Libya was lifted, and NATO's Operation Unified Protector formally ended, despite requests by the NTC for military assistance to continue.
Formation of a government
On 22 November 2011, the NTC named its interim government. Osama al-Juwaili, a commander of the military council in Zintan whose forces were responsible for the capture of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, was named defense minister. Fawzi Abdelali, a militia leader from Misrata, was named interior minister. Ashour Bin Hayal, a diplomat originally from Derna, was named foreign minister. Hassan Ziglam, an oil industry executive, was named finance minister. Ali Hameda Ashour was named justice minister. Abdulrahman Ben Yezza, a former executive with the Italian oil and gas company Eni, was made oil minister.
On 3 January 2012, Yousef al-Manqoush, a retired general from Misrata, was named head of the Libyan National Army by the NTC.
On 26 April 2012, it was reported that majority of the NTC members approved a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib citing incompetence as the main reason. However, the president of the NTC denied the news stating that the government would stay until the elections in June.
On 14 October 2012, Ali Zeidan was elected Prime Minister by a vote of 93 to 85, with two weeks to submit his proposed new government for approval by Congress. Zeidan's cabinet, formed by ministers from the NFA, the JCP, and independents, was approved by Congress on 31 October 2012 and sworn in on 14 November.
In March 2014, Zeidan was ousted by the GNC. On 4 August 2014, the GNC was replaced by a new House of Representatives. On 25 August 2014, some members of the former GNC reconvened unilaterally in Tripoli and said they had elected Omar al-Hasi as prime minister.
First public elections On 1 January 2012, the NTC released a 15-page draft law that would regulate the election of a national assembly charged with writing a new constitution and forming a second caretaker government. The proposed law laid out more than 20 classes of people who would be prohibited from standing as candidates in the elections, including Libyans who had ties to Muammar Gaddafi, former officials accused of torturing Libyans or embezzling public funds, active members of the Revolutionary Guard, opposition members who made peace with Gaddafi and academics who wrote about Gaddafi's The Green Book. The draft bill also stipulated that 10% of the 200 seats in the constituent assembly would be reserved for women. The finalization of the election law would be followed by the appointment of an election commission to divide the country into constituencies and oversee the poll, to be held in June.
The Forum of National Parties, an association of 12 moderate Islamist parties, said it rejected the proposed election law because it encouraged voting along tribal lines and gave undue influence to the wealthy. According to Wasila al-Ashiq, head of one of the parties represented in the organization, candidates would have to run as independents under the proposed law because Libya has no law regulating political parties. That would mean that those candidates capable of drawing on tribal power and affiliation would win the seats, she said, while minorities such as the Berbers would be ignored.
On 28 January 2012, the NTC announced it had adopted a revised version of the electoral bill as law. The proposed 10 percent quota for female members of the constituent assembly was dropped; instead, the law required political parties to have equal numbers of men and women in their candidate lists. Furthermore, the law called for two-thirds of the 200 seats in the constituent assembly – the so-called General National Congress – to go to candidates of political parties, while the remaining seats would be held by independents.
A new law governing the formation of political organisations was passed on by the NTC on 24 April. Political parties based on regional, tribal or religious affiliation were prohibited. Furthermore, parties cannot be an extension of a political party abroad or receive foreign funding.
On 7 July 2012, Libyans voted in their first parliamentary elections since the end of the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. The election, in which more than 100 political parties had registered, formed an interim 200-member national assembly. The purpose of this assembly was to replace the unelected NTC, name a prime minister, and form a committee to draft a constitution. The vote was postponed several times to resolve logistical and technical problems, and to give more time to register to vote, and to vetting candidates.
On 17 July 2012, the High National Election Commission announced provisional results. Jibril's National Forces Alliance (NFA) received 48.1%, taking 39 out of the 80 party-list seats. This was followed by the Justice and Construction Party (JCP), which received 10.3% and 17 seats and third was the National Front Party with 4.1% and three seats. The Union for the Homeland and the National Centrist Party also took two seats, as did the Wadi Al-Hayah Party for Democracy and Development. Fifteen other parties won one party list seat each. On 8 August 2012, the General National Congress replaced NTC.
Prosecution of Gaddafi officials Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, his father's heir apparent, was captured near the town of Ubari in the Idehan Ubari by Zintani militiamen on 19 November 2011. His capture was confirmed by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which had issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and his father during the war. The military council in Zintan said it would hold the Gaddafi son in Zintan until Abdurrahim El-Keib, the incoming Prime Minister of Libya, formed a government it considered capable of taking custody of the high-ranking prisoner.
The chief prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said that he was "not competing" with Libyan authorities to prosecute Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and that he was happy for the case to be tried in Libya. The ICC said in a separate statement that it had the "exclusive competence" to decide on the continuation of the case before the court, and that if Libyan authorities wish to conduct the prosecutions against Gaddafi in their own country, they must submit a challenge to the admissibility of the case to the ICC.
On 8 November 2011, a Tunisian court ruled that the former Secretary of the General People's Committee under Gaddafi's government, Baghdadi Mahmudi, should be extradited to Libya. In December, Tunisian interim President Foued Mebazaa said he would not sign a decree to extradite Mahmudi due to fears that he would be subjected to torture if returned to Libya. One of Mahmudi's lawyers reported that Mahmudi's health was "seriously degraded" following a hunger strike in his prison. On 6 January 2012, a statement signed by 15 Tunisian and international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, called on Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki not to sign the extradition decision ordered by the court.
On 6 September 2011, Mexican authorities uncovered a plot to smuggle Al-Saadi Gaddafi, one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons wanted by the National Transitional Council on suspicion of war crimes, and some members of his family into the country. On 11 November 2011, Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou said his government had decided to grant Al-Saadi Gaddafi asylum "on humanitarian grounds".