A fragment of shrapnel tore Mohamed Ben Khalifa from life. The freelance journalist worked as a photographer and cameraman, including for the news agency AP, and reported on heavy fighting between rival militias in the Libyan capital Tripoli. There, a shrapnel hit the 35-year-old deadly on the head.

Ben Khalifa's death symbolizes Libya's descent into civil war. The photographer himself was a chronicler of this development and all its attendant circumstances. Power struggles of the militia, desperate refugees waiting in devastating circumstances for the passage to Europe. But also the hope of many Libyans for a peaceful life in peace and modest prosperity: Ben Khalifa has captured all these facets in his recordings.

See a selection of his photos here:

photo gallery


10 pictures

Pictures from Libya: scenes of a civil war

The photojournalist was the victim of the recent civil war between the militias in Tripoli and the surrounding area. Once again, fighters of the so-called Seventh Brigade from the small town of Tarhuna, located 65 kilometers southeast of the city, made their way to the metropolis. Their goal is to break the dominance of the four major militias in the capital. Like a mafia cartel, they divided Tripoli among themselves and became subject to the United Nations-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj.

The ceasefire does not resolve the conflict

In September, the Seventh Brigade, along with allied militias from Misurata and Zintan, had once tried to topple the Tripoli cartel. In day-long battles in the capital, more than a hundred people were killed and thousands of civilians driven out before the UN negotiated a fragile ceasefire.

Now the militia from the surrounding area launched a new attempt to forcibly secure their share of the benefices in the capital. For days, they fought battles that killed at least 30 people, including photographer Ben Khalifa.

Now, a fire break has been in place for a few days, but it does not solve the fundamental conflict: that armed militia loot government institutions and fight anyone who also wants money.

Macron and Salvini are thwarting the EU's Libya policy

The next round of combat in Tripoli is therefore only a matter of time. Salah Badi, leader of the Militia "Brigade of Stability" from Misurata, openly threatens with a new attack on the fighting groups in Tripoli. "The UN has not done its job, so I think that armed struggle is a way to put pressure," Badi told Zenith magazine. "The government is just a puppet."

AP / Mohamed Ben Khalifa

Fighter in Tripoli

The powerlessness and lack of legitimacy of the government also make it difficult for the United Nations to advance the political process in Libya. The situation within the formally government-controlled area around Tripoli is only part of the problem. Add to that the political division of the country into an internationally recognized part in the west and an eastern part around Tripoli, which is dominated by the troops of the warlord Khalifa Haftar and his allies.

Haftar is significantly supported by Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The United Nations and the European Union support Prime Minister Sarraj. But just two important EU states, France and Italy, are thwarting the Libyan policy. Only in May 2018, the French head of state Emmanuel Macron invited the two opponents Sarraj and Haftar to a summit in Paris, where he proclaimed December 10 as the date for parliamentary and presidential elections. This date has long elapsed, elections - or even an electoral law - are still not in sight.

In November, then, the former colonial power Italy organized its own Libya summit in Palermo, which left entirely without tangible results.

Sarraj visits Kurz

On Monday Sarraj travels to Vienna. However, the meeting with the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz will be less about the internal political conflict in Libya. Rather, it is about ensuring that the number of refugee boats leaving for the Mediterranean across Europe continues to decline.

In the coming weeks, under the auspices of UN Special Envoy Ghassan Salamé, a "National Conference" will begin, in which the main conflict parties will peacefully discuss how Libya will look in the future. It is all about the future form of government and how much autonomy the three provinces of Tripolitania in the west, Cyrenaika in the east, Fezzan in the south will enjoy in the future.

But as long as not even the power relations within the capital are clarified, a success of this conference seems very questionable. The UN does not even want to announce a launch date.