Libya has not had a stable government since the country’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi was forced from power and killed following a months-long uprising in 2011.

Since then, violence and insecurity has plagued the oil-rich country, with armed groups jostling for influence with Libya’s two rival governments.

In a surprise move on Thursday, the powerful renegade General Khalifa Haftar ordered his troops west on what he called a “victorious march” on Tripoli. 

The internationally-recognised government has deployed its troops in response, raising fears of a major showdown. 

The United Nations has called for calm and sent Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Libya to meet Haftar on Friday.

Is Libya on the brink of another civil war?

Presenter: Kamahl Santamaria

Guests:

Salah El Bakkoush – political analyst and senior adviser to the negotiating team of the High Council of State

Anas El Gomati – director of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute

Mansour El-Kikhia – professor of politics at the University of Texas in San Antonio 

Source: Al Jazeera News

Algerians have once again taken to the streets to demand an overhaul of the political system after their pro-democracy movement forced President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign earlier this week after 20 years in power.

Tens of thousands of people massed in the capital, Algiers, and marched towards the central post office, a symbol of the peaceful widespread protests that began on February 22 in response to 82-year-old Bouteflika’s bid to seek a fifth term in now-cancelled elections, earlier scheduled for April 18.

Security was higher than usual, with roadblocks preventing buses of protesters from entering the city. One group of demonstrators from the Kabylie region east of Algiers walked 20km after its bus was stopped at a roadblock.

It was the seventh straight Friday of protests against a leadership the demonstrators perceive as corrupt and repressive but the first since the ailing Bouteflika resigned on Tuesday under pressure from protesters and the powerful army.

The demonstrators now want the departure of key allies of Bouteflika, including the men who head Algeria‘s three branches of power: the prime minister, chief of the upper house of parliament and the president of the constitutional court.

“The people want them all to leave,” protesters chanted. Some brandished signs calling for the exit of “the three Bs”- Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, Constitutional Council President Tayeb Belaiz, and upper house of parliament President Abdelkader Bensalah.

On Wednesday, the Constitutional Council confirmed that the post of president was vacant, paving the way for a three-month transition period. 

Under Algeria’s constitution, that confirmation allows the country to organise elections within that 90-day transition period. The process foresees both houses of parliament convening and Bensalah being named an interim leader.

Bensalah, however, does not have the support of Algeria’s opposition and thousands of protesters who led the anti-Bouteflika movement.

One of the leading voices of the protest movement, lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi, has called for the demonstrations to continue “until they have all gone”.

“Our victory is partial,” he said in a video posted online.

“Algerians will not accept that symbols of the regime … lead the interim period and organise the next elections.”

Peaceful protests were also held in the northeastern province of Annaba and in Bejaia in the north, according to local media reports.

Intelligence chief leaves post

Meanwhile, Algerian media reported that Athmane Tartag, the country’s director of the intelligence service, has left his post amid conflicting reports about whether he resigned or was dismissed.

The local al-Khabar paper reported that the intelligence chief, also known as Bachir Tartag, handed in his resignation hours before Bouteflika stepped down.

However, Algeria’s private Ennahar satellite channel reported that Tartag was sacked on Friday.

The 69-year-old was appointed as the head of the intelligence service in 2015.

Algerian news reports said the intelligence service, DSS, will now report to the defence ministry instead of the president’s office.

George Joffe from the School of Oriental and African Studies told Al Jazeera that “certain grudge scores are now being settled”.

“The result is now Tartag is out of office, and that begins to remove some of the infrastructure of the Bouteflika regime,” he said, speaking from London.

“Whether it implies a change in the institutions of the state of law … that I doubt very much.”

Leaders in Europe have poured cold water on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s request for a 12-week Brexit extension, arguing it does not amount to a clear and credible plan for the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.

In separate statements on Friday, Dutch, German and French officials all called on May to clarify her plan to take the UK out of the bloc ahead of an EU summit set to take place on Wednesday, when European leaders will consider her postponement proposal.

The British prime minister earlier on Friday sent a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk asking Brussels to delay Brexit until June 30 in order to ensure an “orderly” exit.

The UK is currently scheduled to leave the EU on April 12, with British legislators’ failure to agree on any scheme for exiting the 28-member bloc raising the possibility of a so-called “no-deal” departure – something May and her EU counterparts are keen to avoid.

‘Delay a tool, not a solution’

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office suggested it was “premature” to consider a postponement in the absence of a clear plan from London.

“A delay is a tool, but not a solution in itself,” a presidential source told AFP news agency.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte meanwhile said May’s request raised “many questions”, adding “a delay only makes sense if we understand the reason for it”.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas echoed Rutte’s concerns and said May must clarify her plan before the upcoming EU summit so European leaders could “form an opinion on an extension” and “under what circumstances” any postponement could take place.

All EU member states must give unanimous backing to any deadline extension, with European leaders already rejecting a request by May for an extension to the end of June at a summit last month, instead offering the April 12 deadline.

Britain had initially agreed an EU departure date of March 29 but amid successive failures to get her Brexit deal signed off by the UK parliament, May has been under pressure to push the deadline back in order to avoid a no-deal exit.

In the face of continued opposition to her plan, including from within her own Conservative Party and its government partner, the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the prime minister has turned to main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the hope of creating cross-party consensus on an exit strategy.

Labour has called for any departure deal to ensure the protection of the “exact same benefits” as the UK currently has as a member of the EU’s single market and customs union.

Tusk to float ‘flexible’ extension

Amid the continued uncertainty, Tusk is considering proposing an offer of a 12-month “flexible” extension to the Brexit date, the BBC reported on Friday, citing a senior EU source.

Reacting to the report, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said a longer delay to the UK’s departure from the bloc might be favourable.

“None of us want no deal next week but we also want to avoid rolling extensions because that just adds to the uncertainty so perhaps a longer extension might make more sense,” Varadkar told Irish national broadcaster RTE.

A further delay to Brexit could result in the UK taking part in European Parliamentary elections, due to take place between May 23 and 26.

May proposed in her letter that if MPs approve a divorce deal in time, the UK should be able to leave before the elections take place.