Libya's chaos displays western powers' egoism

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Huang Panyue
Time
2019-04-19 10:59:10

By Wang Jinyan

Fighting has resumed in Libya after the Libyan National Army (LNA), a military force in the east of the country, advanced on the capital Tripoli on April 4 to fight with the Armed Forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA).

The Gaddafi regime was overthrown in 2011, resulting in two rival administrations. Since then, Libya has been in a chaotic situation of political division, economic hardship and social unrest.The Government of National Accord and the armed forces hold a position in some parts of Western Libya. The General National Congress and the LNA led by Khalifa Haftar formed an alliance and established another government in eastern Libya.

Facing the current chaos, many countries including the Western powers, have condemned the use of force and called for an immediate ceasefire to resolve the issue in a peaceful manner. However, such countries have their own plans because of their different interests in Libya.

The UK called on the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting, arguing that the responsibility for resolving the Libya crisis should be shared by the UN and global major powers. Russia said that it had been working hard for a political solution in Libya for many years. The US called for a ceasefire and temporary withdrawal of some US troops from Libya due to deteriorated security situation. The EU member states have different voices. Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on April 11 that the EU was going to issue a statement on the Libyan war and accuse the attack against Tripoli by Haftar’s LNA of jeopardizing the safety of civilians. However, the statement was rejected due to French opposition.

He stressed that although France blocked the statement for its own sake, Italy would not stand by idly. From 2011 to the present, every Western intervention in Libya has been for their own interests, rather than for stabilizing the situation in Libya.

The egoism of the western countries has undoubtedly not only worsened the situation in Libya and the lives of the Libyan people, but also made them shoot themselves in the feet, as they have been plagued by refugee crisis and terrorist attacks for a long time. Over the past eight years, Libya has been trapped in the struggle of various domestic forces with raging armed conflicts and countless civilian casualties. Not only did the Libyan people fail to gain the long-awaited democracy, but their living conditions were deteriorating every day. Hundreds of thousands of people became refugees and they risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea to flee to Europe.

At the same time, extremist organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) seized the opportunity to take root in Libya, making Libya an important stronghold. On the one hand, ISIS recruits and trains extremists in Libya and sends them to neighboring African and European countries to carry out terrorist attacks. Several countries such as France, UK, Egypt and Tunisia are victims of serious terrorist attacks launched by extremists who sneaked in after receiving training in Libya. On the other hand, extremist groups, including ISIS and al-Qaeda, have intensified the European refugee crisis to some extent by profiting from helping refugees enter EU.

Under such circumstances, western countries such as the US, UK, France and Italy have provided economic, military and even personnel support in order to strengthen their control over Libya, in the name of battling terrorism. Their stop gap measures are not for the best interest of Libya’s national economy and people’s livelihood, but for their own self-interests. Such practice by western powers is not conducive to helping Libya restore stability.

(The author is from the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

 

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