Putin’s Qaddafi Comeback Gambit Sows New Conflict With the West
A fragile peace in Libya is at risk as foreign powers jostle over election candidates.
Demonstrators commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Arab Spring in Martyrs Square in Tripoli, Libya on Feb. 17.
Photographer: Nada Harib/Getty Images EuropeLibya’s presidential elections this year were meant to be a key marker in the oil-rich North African state’s return to stability after years of civil war. Instead, they risk unleashing more chaos as outside powers try to leverage their preferred candidates into place.
A decade after the NATO-led overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi, the installation of a government of national unity has brought a fragile cease-fire to Libya, with the Dec. 24 elections the next step in the stabilization process. Now, however, President Vladimir Putin is challenging the U.S. and Europe as well as rising regional power Turkey with a bid to elevate into power the ex-dictator’s son, Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, according to three people in Moscow with knowledge of the efforts.