Libya's Crisis of Identity / Journal of North African Studies / Spring 2013 (original) (raw)
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Their occupation of the capital and the plea for prose- cution of the GNC mandate was met by stiff local and interna- tional opposition that in any case proved unable to protect the new assembly. Threatened by growing insecurity and turmoil, most of the members of the newly elected parliament abandoned Tripoli and reconvened in Tobruk, where they could count on the protection of the forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Haftar. From that moment on two distinct bodies (the assemblies in Tripoli and Tobruk) claimed to be the sole legitimate representative of a country that began to crumble under competing interests and growing financial stress. The impasse was followed by fierce military clashes that contributed to the fragmentation of the nascent Libyan institutions and to the emergence of a broad array of actors who did not hesitate to exploit the situa- tion to fill the socio-political vacuum. 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