Libya’s crackdown on rogue militias continues in Tripoli

Libya’s army yesterday ordered rogue armed groups in and around Tripoli to leave state and military premises or be ejected by force, apparently seeking to capitalise on the withdrawal of militias from Benghazi and Derna.

The two main Islamist militias in Derna, a town in eastern Libya known as an Islamist stronghold, said on Saturday they were disbanding after one of them, Ansar al-Sharia, was driven out of Libya’s second city, Benghazi.

The many militias that still control the streets more than a year after rebels toppled Muammar Gaddafi are the clearest challenge to the authority of a central government forced to co-opt many of them to provide security.