Libya, 2016 — rebel coup attempt

Event Summary

On 14 October 2016 Khalifa al-Ghwell, the head of a defunct rival government in Libya, announced from Tripoli that he and his allies were seizing power and reinstating the former General National Congress, in an abortive coup against the United Nations backed Government of National Accord that deepened the country's fragmentation. Libya by 2016 was split among competing authorities: the internationally recognized GNA under Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, which had arrived in Tripoli earlier that year; the eastern government aligned with General Khalifa Haftar; and the rump of the old GNC and its self styled National Salvation Government under Ghwell, which had been displaced by the GNA but refused to disappear. On 14 October, Ghwell's militia allies seized several state buildings, including part of the state council's premises, and Ghwell declared the National Salvation Government back in power, demanding the GNA step aside.

But the takeover attempt won little support and quickly sputtered; the GNA and allied forces retained control of most of the capital, and the coup fizzled without dislodging Sarraj's government. The episode underscored the chaos and multiplicity of armed factions that continued to paralyze Libya years after Gaddafi's fall.