This is the BBC.

Hello, today. The swimming pool is full of slime. The bedrooms are empty shells.

The visiting foreign dignitaries are long gone. A trip to a once luxury hotel in Liberia

reveals much about the country today. In the Philippines an insight into the nation's

war on drugs as we join crime reporters in Manila. the an unpalatable solution to the spread of jellyfish threatening the biodiversity of our seas.

And in the foothills of the Caucasus, our correspondent debates Brexit as he tries to talk his way into a country which most of the world

refuses to recognize. It's almost six years since the fall of Colonel Gaddafi and

Libya is still a failing state with an economy in tatters.

There are rival governments in East and West and Myriad militia compete for control.

The most powerful fighting force is led by Marshal Khalifa

Hifter. It's made up of former army units and groups loyal to them and controls about

three quarters of the country and most of the oil installations.

The Marshal is rapidly becoming the most influential man in Libya, and Stephen Saka went to

his seat of power Benghazi, where he experienced a distinct sense of deja vu.

Marshall Helifah Hiftar wanted to see me, not any old journalist, me.

Naturally I was flattered.

His office called to relay the telephonic equivalent of an embossed invitation.

The time had come, his flunky declared on a dodgy line from Benghazi to explain why Libya's future

and the West security now depend on the marshal's successful military campaign

against terrorism.

In my line of work, there are a few things harder to resist than an exclusive interview with a ruthless

warlord carrying lots of controversial baggage.

...