In the last two-and-a-half years, since the ouster and killing of Col. Muammar Qaddafi in November 2011, Libya has not existed as a unitary, cohesive state. It has office holders such as president, prime minister, and cabinet members, and a parliament, but these exist in name only. They have no power. Real power lies with different armed militias which control different parts of the country. Last summer, some of the militias controlling the country’s eastern area have seized the country’s major oil fields and the oil terminal in the port of al-Sidra, through which most of Libya’s oil used to be exported — 1.6 million barrels a day before November 2011. After preventing any exports of oil since then, the militias decided that they would be better off selling the oil themselves. Last week, a North Korean-flagged tanker docked at the al-Sidra port to load the militia-controlled oil. Militias loyal to the government (that is, loyal for now: these militias’ loyalties constantly shift) have besieged the tanker vowing to prevent it from leaving port with its oil cargo. Libya observers say the likely outcome would be for the nominally pro-government militias to reach an arrangement with the militias from east Libya over the distribution of oil revenues before allowing the exportation of oil from al-Sidra to resume. As with all other issues in Libya, the Libyan government is not a factor here: Prime Minister Ali Zeidan told reporters on Saturday that his government gave orders for the military to move against the tanker but that they did not follow orders.