Libya Roundup, 6/8

Here are a few items on Libya that caught my eye this week:

• Jacob Mundy in The Conversation: “Libya’s transitional leaders, some of whom will be presidential candidates, are entangled in – and benefit from – the country’s war economy. So do various armed factions that may view the vote as a threat to their interests and disrupt the process before it begins.” See also Tarek Megerisi.
• Al Jazeera on Khalifa Haftar’s forces entering into Derna. More at The Independent and Al Arabiya.
• Reuters: “The United States said on Wednesday [June 6] it had conducted a precision air strike near the Libyan town of Bani Walid, killing four Islamic State militants…One of those killed in the strike was Abd al-Aati Ashtaiwy, a Libyan who had traveled to Syria and had previously been based in Sirte, which Islamic State controlled from 2015-2016, according to the Bani Walid source and local reports.” Here is AFRICOM’s statement.
• RFI (French) on allegations that various (non-Libyan) African rebels are training in southern Libya.