Libya; A failed State failing again?


Once again Libya has been in the news, and not because there has been a binding peace resolution. The UN-backed Government of National Accord, the interim government (IG) put in place following the Libyan Civil war, is desperately battling the forces from the eastern city of Benghazi, run by former Pro-Gadhaffi army officer Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar. Haftar has labelled the IG as being propped up with Islamist Militias who are establishing a strong foothold in the failed state. The IG has received official support from the UN, however, concerns have been raised as to the effectiveness of the government to establish support in the region given their scope of power barely reaches outside Tripoli. Haftar's forces have received support from a large number of key players in the region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Whilst he was previously Pro-Gadhaffi, having played a part in the coup that put the former leader in power; following capture in Chad, he was disavowed by Gadhaffi and quickly turned against him. He received support from the US and as a result, it is hard to see the US assisting the IG in pushing Haftars forces away from Tripoli.

This new conflict has been going on for little over a month now, with thousands injured and almost 400 killed already. This conflict does not look like it is going anywhere anytime soon, and will surely only lead to more violence and turmoil in a state that is still reeling from the Arab Spring, first Libyan Civil war and the second civil war that has been taking place since 2014. One almost hopes that whoever comes into power will be able to maintain their hold on the country and bring it back to some sort of middle ground where peace seems an option. However, this blog is not about predicting the future or passing judgement on the failures of the past, more of analysing the present and placing my opinion on the table.

Libya has, for the last number of years, turned into a sandbox for major world powers to play in, citing national security to fight proxy wars with other global powers. This is terrible for Libya as a country, where people have been subjected to terrible conditions, fighting and the whims of almost every major world power for years now.

With regards to the US and their opinion of Haftars move on Tripoli, it is hard to place a good guess on whether they support him or not. they have bounced between condemning Harftars 'Military advances on Tripoli', and 'supporting Haftars significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya's oil resources'. If the US supports Haftar, then they will be aligning themselves with Moscow, supporting the same player and opposing the UN-backed IG, which will fall into Moscow's plan to access Libya's oil market, arms sales and seaports in the Mediterranean (https://edition.cnn.com).

All that is truly known is that once again, Libya has drawn the unfortunately short straw in becoming Africas Proxy war centre.

As Smedley Butler once said; 'War is just a racket. A racket is best described as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses'.


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