Can a new administration reunite war-torn Libya?

THE DRIVEUN from Benghazi to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, should take ten hours. But the coastal road connecting the two cities has been impassable for most of the past decade because of an on-and-off civil war. Since Libyans toppled Muammar Qaddafi, their old dictator, in 2011, various groups have fought for control of the country—and for parts of the road. Today, near the road’s mid-point outside Sirte, militias, boulders and landmines block the way.Opening that road is one of many tasks facing the new Libyan administration unveiled in Geneva on February 5th. Holding presidential and parliamentary elections in December is its primary job. The body, led by a three-person presidential council and a prime minister, was chosen by 74 Libyans in a forum representing the country’s regions at talks sponsored by the United Nations. It was the ’s fourth attempt to establish a unified government in Libya since the revolution. But the new administration faces some old problems.