Other inhabitants are more ambivalent about the LNA. In a policy brief for the European University Institute, researcher Al-Zubayr Salem wrote that since besieging Derna, the LNA has compounded the crisis by failing to make a distinction between the DMSC and civilians. Worse still, civilians who support the LNA said that Haftar’s forces have shown little regard for human life.

Besides holding elections, the terms of the agreement include unifying the country’s key financial institutions such as the Libyan Central Bank, phasing out parallel government and institutions” and building a national army. It stipulates that all parties will preserve security during the elections, and respect the final outcome.

Many failed to realize that Haftar amassed a large base of support among former members of the Libyan army who had fought against Gadafi in 2011 and who felt threatened as the Islamists began to “purify” the state of elements of the “old regime.” Haftar portrayed himself as Libya’s saviour (“Libya’s Sisi”) from Islamist organizations spreading chaos.

While the kidnapping of foreigners in Libya has made headlines, nationals from countries in sub-Saharan Africa are arguably the most vulnerable. Most of them are fleeing persecution, war and famine, pushing them to rely on criminal gangs to take them to Europe. However, since Europe began contracting Libyan militias to intercept boats at sea in February 2017, smugglers have resorted to kidnapping migrants to earn a profit instead.

Saif al-Islam is trying to mobilize support among tribal leaders and fighters loyal to his father. Many Libyans perceive him as Libya’s ‘saviour’ that could reform their troubled country.

Most Libyans emphasize that adopting a new constitution is a must before holding elections. That way, Libya can at least have a legal blueprint to rebuild weak institutions. However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement released on 21 March 2018, the rights group urged Libya not to rush into elections.

Although Sufis were marginalized for much of Qaddafi’s rule, circumstances have arguably worsened since he died. After the revolution, Sufis worried that new religious officials were inspired by Salafist ideologies, leading them to appoint extremist sheikhs in mosques that pro-Qaddafi preachers once occupied. Some of these new sheikhs quickly pressured authorities to replace other long-time Sufi imams with hardliners.

Five years later, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) helped jump-start a reconciliation process between the two cities. An agreement was reached on 31 August 2016, stipulating that the primary condition for the return of the Tawergha is that the victims of the 2011 uprising are compensated. Residents from Tawergha are expecting to receive financial compensation, but so are fighters from Misrata who accepted the deal.

An Amnesty International report accused European governments of being ‘knowingly complicit in the torture and abuse of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants detained by Libyan immigration authorities in appalling conditions’. However, In the wake of the revelations of the Libyan slave trade, EU officials announced plans to team up with the African Union in a joint task force of police and intelligence agencies targeting human trafficking.

Regardless of who was involved in the deal, it appears to have sparked a confrontation between the al-Ammu militia and the allied Brigade 48 and other local militias, after al-Ammu intercepted human traffickers connected with a rival militia, Shuhada al-Wadi.