Oil crescent endgame

The political disintegration since 2014 has led inexorably towards a final battle for control of Libya's commanding heights

Oil has been at the centre of conflict since the civil war began in the country two years ago. Africa's largest reserves-and one of the Atlantic basin's most highly prized flows of crude exports-marked a huge catch for the winner. The current conflict emerged in the political ruins left by Libya's civil war in 2011, and began in earnest in July 2014 when a coalition of Islamist and western coastal factions-the dominant groups in what was then the General National Congress-suffered steep losses in elections for a new parliament, the House of Representatives (HoR). Unwilling to be a minority force, the factions formed the Libya Dawn (Fajr) militia coalition and captured Tripoli, destroying the