Libya small businesses struggle to rebuild after waves of unrest

Libya small businesses struggle to rebuild after waves of unrest

Libyan businessman Mahmud al-Sharkassi surveyed the ruins of his factory on the outskirts of war-scarred capital Tripoli, disheartened but determined to get back to work.

"This used to be the heart of my project. Everything started here," he said, looking over destroyed buildings where he used to store kitchen fittings before they were distributed to showrooms.

The Ain Zara district on the southern edges of Tripoli, where the factory lies, became a battleground in April last year as the forces of eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar tried to seize the capital from the UN-recognised administration.

His rivals launched a searing fightback and repelled his forces earlier this year. But the violence had devastated industrial zones and residential suburbs in Tripoli's hinterland.

The battle was the latest blow to small businesses in Libya, which plunged into violence after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

After Kadhafi took power in a 1969 coup he had practically scrapped the private sector, sweeping away schools, factories, businesses, libraries and hotels and replacing them with state-run enterprises.

That saddled the oil-dependent country with a bloated public sector -- two million civil servants out of a population of 6.6 million, their