Libyan President Mohammed el-Megaref is using the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi earlier this month as an excuse to crack down on independent militias in the nation today, announcing that he plans to disband every single militia in the country that doesn’t swear fealty to the government.
Two of the militias have already announced that they are disbanding, including the Ansar al-Sharia Benghazi (ASB), whose headquarters was burned by pro-regime protesters on Friday.
The Benghazi military leadership vowed to use all force necessary to disband the militias in their city, while a leadership in Tripoli gave militias there 48 hours to fold before facing a crackdown of their own.
The announcement reflects a long-standing goal of the post-Gaddhafi government to force militias under their thumb, but given the number of times the Libyan military has tried to intervene in random clashes between two unaffiliated militias and gotten absolutely trounced, their ability to impose this decision on those militias remains very much in doubt.
Exactly my thoughts Jason……What the hell is the Libyan "military" going to do about it?
I betting that we'll soon see western boots on the ground via NATO.
The presiding Libyan "government" is a farce.
Big talk, if it was that easy, the deed would have been done by now
Libya has a president? Wow! Who woulda thunk it after all the reports of Stevens really being the boss of Libya and all that.