The Presidency Council that heads Libya’s nascent unity government has re-located to a Tripoli naval base. But so far it has failed to secure backing from rival administrations in Tripoli and Tobruk. Hopes of oil ouput revival are receding into the distance.

In a week when US president Barack Obama described the failure to properly prepare for the 2011 ousting of Libyan leader Colonel Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi as the greatest error of his presidency, the new Western-backed government...