LIBYA SHORT SUMMARY & COMMENTS ABOUT PRESENT AND (RECENT) PAST

The dictator's legacy has consigned oil-rich Libya to anarchy with no end in sight

The embarrassing truth is that average Libyans were better off - more secure in their places, much more likely to be able to make a decent living, less likely to have their heads blown off at  supermarket - while living under the reign of despot, mass murderer Muammar Gaddafi than today.

"Gaddafi chose to build the idea of a state around his personality''
Ousted and slain in October 2011, "he used military funded by oil to crush any opposition to himself instead of building state institutions that could survive beyond him".
Libya, a largely tribal nation, descended into chaos after Gaddafi's fall, with two governments vying for power and armed groups battling for control of its vast energy resources.
A militia alliance that includes radical Islamists overran Tripoli in August 2014, establishing a government rivalling that of the internationally recognised administration, which was forced to flee to eastern Libya.
12 months of UN-brokered talks to persuade the warring sides to agree to a peace deal and form a national unity government have run aground with a failure so far.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the Islamic State terrorist group has gained a foothold in Libya and people-smugglers are again ferrying illegal migrants from its shores to Europe on rickety boats and contributing to thousands of deaths. But the focus remains on Gaddafi, the flamboyant strongman who called himself "Guide of the Revolution" and declared Libya a Jamahiriya or "state of the masses" run by local committees.
"He will make headlines for a long time because the regime he consolidated will need a long time to be undone," an official of the Tripoli-based government said.

"He pitched tribes and regions and different ethnic groups against one another for decades, which is why Libyans and international community are struggling to create a national unique identity now". Ancient Roman emperors said ''divide et impera'' translated divide & (better) rule

"We used to be afraid even to look at his compound,"
"A generation will pass before we can overcome the fear he instilled in us. But we were much more secure and rich" 
many Libyans say.