Middle East & Africa | Fourth time lucky

Can a new administration reunite war-torn Libya?

Warlords and foreign powers will try to scuttle the UN’s fourth attempt to establish a government

THE DRIVE from Benghazi to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, should take ten hours. But the coastal road connecting the two cities has been impassable for most of the past decade because of an on-and-off civil war. Since Libyans toppled Muammar Qaddafi, their old dictator, in 2011, various groups have fought for control of the country—and for parts of the road. Today, near the road’s mid-point outside Sirte, militias, boulders and landmines block the way.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Fourth time lucky”

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