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Heavy fighting erupted on Saturday between rival militias in Libya's capital, hours after the new U.N. special envoy said he planned to visit Tripoli as early as next week to try to broker a ceasefire. Spanish diplomat Bernardino Leon, who is due to start his job officially on Sept. 1, aims to end fighting between brigades from Misrata and fighters allied to the western town of Zintan, whose rivalries erupted a month ago into the worst clashes since the 2011 uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. The battles, which involve brigades of former rebels who once fought Gaddafi together, have forced the United Nations and Western governments to evacuate their diplomats, fearing Libya is sliding into civil war. Libya’s fragile government still has no national army and often put former rebels on the state payroll as semi-official security forces as a way to co-opt them into the new state.
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