Libya, once one of Africa’s most booming economies and politically stable nations has become a pale shadow of its former self since the Arab Spring that swept across the nation from February 2011.

The wave that ended eight months later after claiming the life of strongman, Muammar Gaddafi, who had ruled the Maghreb nation since 1969 led to a civil war that has put the nation on the brink of total destruction, unlike neighboring Tunisia that is enjoying life after the Arab revolution.

Five years since the killing of Gaddafi by rebels, the country has been in a civil war since then with two rival groups that signed to a United Nations-brokered peace deal still fighting over who will control the nation.

The United Nations (UN) brokered the Government of National Accord (GNA), led the Presidency Council under Prime Minister Farez al- Sarraj in August last year. The new government was however opposed by the parliament in Tobruk, a rival government in the east, Al Jazeera reported.

Libya’s disintegration into civil war mirrors that of Somalia. The horn of Africa nation was thrown into shambles after Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.

The Union of Islamic Courts (ICU) widely regarded as a terrorist group took over control of Somalia in 2006 but was ousted a year later by a combined force of Ethiopian and Somali forces.

There are at least 2,000 militias spread across the nation such as like Libya Dawn, Libya Shield, Battalion 166, BBC reported.

Lack of a stable government has turned the Maghreb nation into a breeding zone for terrorist organizations.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been steadily growing in Libya. It has at least 6,000 militants with its stronghold in the towns of Sirte, Benghazi and Sabratha, Associated Press reported.

Other terror groups are Ansar al-Sharia, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda and 17 February Brigade, Zintan, al-Qaqa Battalions, Derna Mujahidin Shura Council and Rafallah al-Sahati.

The groups pose the biggest security threat to North Africa and neighboring European nations.

In Somalia, Al-Shabaab was the militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts that ruled the nation from June 2006 until it was ousted a year later by Somali and Ethiopia forces.

The group that is affiliated to Al-Qaeda poses the biggest security threat to the Eastern Africa region. It has killed hundreds of Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda forces in deadly attacks inside Somalia.

Al-Shabaab has also killed hundreds of civilians in Kenya and Uganda in a series of devastating attacks, according to National Counter Terrorism Guide.

The nation’s economy is on the brink of collapse because of the political instability that has drastically reduced oil production in Africa’s biggest reserves of black-gold.

Islamic militias, who consider oil production as theft of the nation’s natural resources by the West, have targeted the industry, The Washington Post reported.

Islamic State (IS) militants attacked oil terminals at Ras Lanuf and As Seder, which are some of the biggest plants in December, 2014.

The nation was producing 1.6 million barrels of oil a day before the Arab Spring. This fell to about 360,000 barrels a day since Gaddafi was killed. Reviving the sector is key to saving the economy from total collapse.

Libya is currently considered a failed state, with the US and European Union (EU) who backed the anti-Gaddafi rebels conspicuously absent from the re-building process of a nation that was once the pride of Africa, with a booming economy supported by its oil revenues.