--- title: Evacuation of U.S. Embassy In Libya Underscores Militia Threat | TIME description: Libya’s current government has little control over the country’s hundreds of paramilitary groups. canonical: https://time.com/video/2OqsjFqV/ og:title: Evacuation of U.S. Embassy In Libya Underscores Militia Threat og:description: Libya’s current government has little control over the country’s hundreds of paramilitary groups. og:url: https://time.com/video/2OqsjFqV/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2OqsjFqV/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Evacuation of U.S. Embassy In Libya Underscores Militia Threat twitter:description: Libya’s current government has little control over the country’s hundreds of paramilitary groups. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2OqsjFqV/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Evacuation of U.S. Embassy In Libya Underscores Militia Threat > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Evacuation of U.S. Embassy In Libya Underscores Militia Threat [Watch (HLS stream): Evacuation of U.S. Embassy In Libya Underscores Militia Threat](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2OqsjFqV.m3u8) (2:40)  _Published 2014-07-26. Libya’s current government has little control over the country’s hundreds of paramilitary groups._ --- Jul 27, 2023 5:03 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Deadly Migrant Shipwreck Off Libya’s Coast](/video/k9mmRhs9/) ### Deadly Migrant Shipwreck Off Libya’s Coast [Purging Libya's Schools of Gaddafi's Propaganda](/video/xmXKZXli/) ### Purging Libya's Schools of Gaddafi's Propaganda [The Mental Toll of Libya's War](/video/yNU2oT5A/) ### The Mental Toll of Libya's War --- ## Transcript When the Arab Spring swept through the Islamic world in 2011, Libya's militias were one of the many groups who took up arms against seemingly unshakeable regimes. And when the first free elections were held in 2012, giving power to the General National Congress ,. It was possible to see Libya as one of the success stories from that democratic movement. But the inter- militia violence that has wracked the country since those elections tells a different story. A failed government. Saturday, the US State Department shuttered its embassy in the country's capital Tripoli, underscoring just how severe the situation is quickly becoming. To understand the post- revolution violence in Libya, one needs to understand the relationship between the country's ailing government. And the various militias first. According to Daily News Egypt, more than two hundred thousand men serve in Libya's three hundred different militias. The majority of which are a threat to an already weak central government. The state is a virtual one, without authority; it is the militias who control Libya and not the government. Parliament has become the seat of militia representative, not of voters' representatives. Anas / Al Gamadi the founder of Lybia's first think tank expressed similar concerns with vice. Many militants have been in charge of strategic areas. Certain regions of the country that are really vital are in the hands of militias. The government doesn't really have a grip. On the things that really make you a government. Just how little control the government has came to light in March when militia in control of a Libyan port attempted to sell oil to North Korea. Tripoli's inability to step them prompted the US to send a team of Navy SEALS to intervene. And more recently, the unchecked violence between two major militia groups vying for control of Libya's largest airport. The Zintan militia, which has controlled the vital location since the revolution, has been defending against the Muslim Brotherhood- backed Misrata Brigades. But Zintan's control of the airport hasn't been popular. A senior fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations wrote for The Huffington Post. They've been accused of stealing cars, confiscating property, arresting and blackmailing people and, above all, engaging in smuggling activities at the airport they controlled. But as he points out later, Misrata are even less popular since they're associated with the Muslim brotherhood. So what can Libya do to solve it's militia problem? Well a writer at International Policy Digest has one suggestion, a constitutional monarchy. Rather than having a weak bickering parliament, a constitutional monarchy would allow the symbol of the nation, the monarch, to act as a political umbrella. And while the idea of establishing a constitutional monarchy might seem unrealistic. The idea has been floated by Libyan government officials before. Thanks for watching. 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