Trump adviser proposes plan to reunite Libya's split east and west

A plan to reunify Libya's fractured political landscape was announced by Massad Boulos, who serves as Donald Trump's special adviser on Arab and African affairs. The proposal aims to end the split that has existed between the Tripoli-based government in the west and the Benghazi-based administration in the east since 2014. Key figures in the negotiations are Saddam Haftar, son of the long-time eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, and Ibrahim Dbeibah, nephew and security adviser to Tripoli's head Abdel Hamid Dbeibah.

Boulos has been reaching out to regional hubs—including Cairo, Ankara, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha—and has kept France and Italy apprised of the process. Despite the high-level contacts, the Libyan public has seen little participation in the discussions, raising concerns about the plan's legitimacy.