The Making of a Strongman in Eastern Libya: Building Stability, Conquering Legitimacy

Since the end of Libya’s second civil war in 2020, Marshal Khalifa Haftar and his sons have consolidated unrivaled control over Cyrenaica through the Libyan National Army (LNA), effectively entrenching the country’s division. While the internationally recognized government in western Libya struggles with rival militias, Haftar has been steadily building his claim to legitimacy, presenting himself as the only authority capable of ruling the entire country. This reporting project explores that carefully staged theater of power.

In Benghazi, the transformation is striking. Luxury hotels, new shopping malls, and a gleaming international stadium project the image of a city reborn after years of war. Yet this carefully cultivated “Libyan Dubai” raises a deeper question: What remains of the past? The old city, once the scene of fierce battles, now stands as an open-air vestige of the war years, a silent reminder beneath the surface of renewal, as the Haftar clan curates an image of stability.

In Derna, still scarred by the devastating floods of 2023, reconstruction is advancing at an impressive pace under Belgacem Haftar’s development fund. The stakes are high: overcoming the disaster would signal a functioning authority capable of delivering results and restoring trust.

Farther south and east, Kufra and Tobruk reveal the regime’s strategic ambitions. In Kufra, the priority is to curb illegal migration, offering assurances to Europe while demonstrating that the LNA can secure vast, remote desert borders.

Through reporting from north to south across Cyrenaica, in each key location of this territory operating independently from the rest of Libya, journalist Martin Dumas Primbault seeks to look beyond the veneer to reveal how, in a post–civil war era, an entity builds its legitimacy and stages its power.