The latest fighting around Tripoli’s main international airport is just another example of the strength of the country’s rogue militias and the weakness of its central caretaker government. It also indicates the lawlessness of the capital and the rest of Libya, where kidnapping for ransom has been the norm since October 2011.
Some 2 million people — almost the entire population of the capital — are hostage to the warring militias. This has been the case since the former regime was toppled in October 2011.
In March 2012, a friend of mine, a university professor, was snatched from his car in broad daylight. He spent nearly 19 months in an illegal jail. Luckily, he was freed after the government of Ali Zeidan managed to take control of that jail in Tajura, east of Tripoli. In April of this year, another friend, also a university professor, was kidnapped in a predawn raid on his family home. Along with his two brothers, he was taken at gunpoint to a nearby jail, where they spent four months before being released after paying a certain amount.
Two of my relatives have been kidnapped in broad daylight: Uday, 18, is the son of my brother-in-law, while Sufyan, 19, is the son of my sister-in-law. The young men disappeared July 3 while traveling together from Janzour to Gargarish, west of Tripoli, where their ailing grandmother lives. Sufyan had come from Cairo to visit her and see his friends before returning to Egypt, where he has lived with his mother since October 2011.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
