Libya a ticking time bomb

Italy on Wednesday issued its strongest warning yet about the danger of the Islamic State group establishing a stronghold in Libya from where it could attack Europe and destabilise neighbouring states.
Addressing parliament, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni also outlined Italy's readiness to play a leading role in de-arming and rebuilding its former colony in the event of a UN-brokered cease-fire in a conflict that has plagued Libya since the 2011 Western-backed overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
Gentiloni said there was a serious danger of ISIS fighters forging an alliance with local militias or criminal gangs currently engaged in a multi-sided battle for control of Libya.
The country has no functioning government and is headed for bankruptcy because of a collapse in its oil production as a result of the fighting.
Italy sees the chaos as driving the accelerating flux of African migrants trying to reach its shores from Libya.
Gentiloni stressed that Italy was not considering military action along the lines of the airstrikes Egypt has carried out this week in retaliation for IS's beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya.
Propaganda released by ISIS has detailed plans to use Libya as a base to cause "pandemonium" in Europe by hijacking immigrant boats crossing the Mediterranean.

An online essay written by a prominent Isis supporter claiming to be in Libya called the country the "strategic gateway for the Islamic State" and announced the "blessed expansion" of its so-called caliphate into North Africa.
The essay claimed that the huge weapons stockpiles left by vying powers in Libya's civil war as well as years of military backing by Britain, the US and others could be exploited, along with its huge tracks of desert and mountain ranges that would be difficult for foreign intelligence to survey.
Charlie Winter, the Quilliam researcher who wrote the report, emphasised that the essay must be treated as "unofficial propaganda" and could not be taken as fact, although it provided an insight into ISIS' thinking.
A spike in the number of migrants fleeing the chaos in Libya has already been seen in recent months, with Italy recording at least 2,490 people landing on its shores since Sunday.
Italy's security services fear that the jihadists could take over the trafficking, the Times reported, as a source of revenue as well as to spread terror.
ISIS plans to use immigrant boats from Libya to cause terror in Europe and close shipping routes.