US envoy Massad Boulos is intensifying consultations with key Libyan centres of power to promote institutional reunification, an initiative generating both hope and reservations about its political viability.
The United States is ramping up diplomatic efforts to try to bring the rival authorities in eastern and western Libya closer together, twelve years after the country’s institutions of authority split into two opposing camps.
As the US envoy for Arab and African affairs in the Trump administration, Boulos has been conducting a series of consultations with key Libyan political, military, and economic leaders for nearly a year.
Last week, he held separate meetings in Tripoli with Abdelhamid Dbeibah, Prime Minister of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord, and with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who controls the east of the country.
Presented as a move to “end the division” of Libya, the American initiative aims, according to Massad Boulos, to facilitate dialogue between the two rival camps without imposing a predetermined solution. The envoy, however, remained discreet about the details of his plan, refusing to comment on reports circulating in some diplomatic circles suggesting an institutional compromise in which Abdelhamid Dbeibah would retain the prime ministership while Saddam Haftar, son of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, would assume the presidency of the Presidential Council.
“These details are for the Libyans themselves to decide,” he stated.
This mediation comes as Libya remains divided between two competing powers since 2014, despite several attempts at reconciliation led by the United Nations. In June, Khalifa Haftar’s forces publicly welcomed the “Boulos Plan,” which they described as a “realistic” initiative and “different from previous ones,” thus distancing themselves from the roadmap drawn up the same day by three Libyan institutions, which calls for presidential and parliamentary elections by February 17, 2027.
Massad Boulos nevertheless maintains that his initiative is “100% complementary” to the efforts of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), which has not yet responded.
Beyond political considerations, Washington sees the lasting stabilisation of Libya as a major energy issue. In an interview with the Financial Times, Massad Boulos indicated that the United States was encouraging major American oil companies to strengthen their presence in the country.
According to him, Libyan production could double to reach three million barrels per day by the end of the decade, allowing the country to join the ranks of the world’s leading oil producers.
The US State Department also highlighted several advances made since the summer of 2025, including the adoption of a unified budget – a first in over a decade – joint military exercises organized under the auspices of AFRICOM, and an increase in meetings between military officials from both sides.
However, the American approach has divided observers. Khaled Al-Montasser, a professor of international relations, believes Washington is opting for pragmatism by relying on the actors who
effectively control the situation on the ground.
Other analysts, on the contrary, fear that an agreement reached between the key figures in power will once again postpone elections and lack popular legitimacy.
Political scientist Faraj Al-Dali believes the project will face significant obstacles, while Karim Mezran of the Atlantic Council considers supporting a compromise between elites without genuine public support to be “a dangerous gamble” that could reignite tensions and cause further destabilisation of the country in the medium term.
MK/AK/Sf/fss/as/APA