The
current situation in Libya and the GNA’s recent plea should serve
as a cautionary tale regarding the inefficacy of NATO-backed and
UN-backed regime-change operations, which have left nothing but chaos
and failed states in their wake.
by
Whitney Webb
A month
of violent in-fighting in Libya’s capital has prompted the
“official” government of Libya to call for UN intervention, just
seven years after the 2011 NATO intervention laid waste to the
country and plunged it into a state of chaos from which it has never
recovered.
In late
August, the Libyan capital of Tripoli became gripped by in-fighting
between rival militant factions, factions that all technically
operate under Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord
(GNA). The fighting allegedly began when one of the armed groups, the
Kaniyat, launched an attack on Tripoli after media reports had
emerged detailing the lavish lifestyles of other GNA armed groups,
like the Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigade.
Local
media reports have indicated that the warring groups have used heavy
weapons, including artillery, to gain the upper hand and that
residential areas have been targeted. In addition, the chaos in the
capital also resulted in one of the largest prison breaks in Libya’s
history, resulting in the escape of around 400 detainees, some of
whom joined the fight.
The
fighting has taken its toll, with at least 115 people dead and 383
wounded – many of them civilians. Many of the city’s civilians
have fled over the past month, as the fighting showed no sign of
slowing down. However, an estimate from Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
stated that at least 8,000 civilians remain trapped in the conflict
zone with no means to escape the violence.
Despite
the gravity of the situation and the undeniable chaos raging within
the city, the GNA has publicly claimed that it is continuously
patrolling the city and that the “situation is under control.”
Despite such “official” assurances, however, the GNA privately
acknowledged to the UN mission in Libya that it was unable to restore
order to the city on its own and then pleaded for the direct
intervention of the UN Security Council.
Specifically,
the GNA asked the UN’s formal presence in the country to “present
the Security Council with the reality of the bloody events in Libya
so that it can […] protect the lives and property of civilians.”
Notably,
it was the UN Security Council that enacted a “no fly zone” in
Libya just seven years ago, an act that enabled the NATO-backed
overthrow of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Since Gaddafi’s
overthrow, the country – which once boasted the highest standard of
living in all of Africa – has become a terrorist breeding-ground
that still lacks a functional central government, allowing everything
from an illegal arms-trade to the public trading of slaves to
flourish.
The
inefficacy and destructiveness of such intervention
Furthermore,
it has long since been revealed that the motive behind Gaddafi’s
overthrow was not that he was “killing his own people” —
as the official story goes – but that he had backed a Pan-African
gold-backed currency, which presented a threat to the U.S.-backed
petrodollar system; that he had illegally financed the campaign of
then-President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, representing a major
liability to the powerful French politician; and that he had called
on a united Africa to stop depending on the U.S. and the West.
Now,
seven years later, the UN Security Council is being asked to
intervene to solve a problem it helped create. However, given the
fragmented nature of Libya – with the GNA in the West, the “rogue”
government of Khalifa Haftar in the East, and radical terror groups
like Daesh (ISIS) sprinkled throughout – it seems highly unlikely
that any future Security Council intervention will succeed in
restoring order to the troubled country.
If
anything, the current situation in Libya and the GNA’s recent plea
should serve as a cautionary tale regarding the inefficacy of
NATO-backed and UN-backed regime-change operations, which have left
nothing but chaos and failed states in their wake.
Source,
links:
Comments
Post a Comment