Opinions
2020.02.25 16:01 GMT+8

Foreign intervention must stop for a durable ceasefire in Libya

Updated 2020.02.25 16:01 GMT+8
CGTN

Libya has been riven with conflict since the overthrowing of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi. /AP

Editor's note: Azhar Azam works in a private organization as a market & business analyst and writes about geopolitical issues and regional conflicts. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Nine years into the Libyan Revolution and NATO-led intervention of Libya, the oil-rich North African state has yet to observe peace and stability in the land as the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and the rival Libyan National Army (LNA) continue to vie for their blanket control in the war-riven country.

Though the civil resistance and popular wave of 2011 in the Middle East and North Africa somehow brought transfer of powers in Egypt and Tunisia, the uprising against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi roiled adjacent Libya into a civil war over foreign military intervention to cherish their regional strategic objectives.

Amid the Arab Spring about a decade ago, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), in a sweeping resolution tightened the sanctions on Libya including no-fly zone, asset freeze and arms embargo and authorized the use of force in the North African country in response to Gaddafi's "crimes against humanity" in the aftermath of his crackdown on protestors.

Soon after passing of the UNSC resolution, the U.S., the UK and France attacked the pro-Gaddafi forces to assist the armed revolt in the Mediterranean state that eventually ended the more than four-decade interminable rule and life of Gaddafi in the hands of National Transition Council (NTC).

The toppling and killing of Gaddafi in the same year did not make any difference to ordinary Libyans as the muscular-enforced political change in the country created a sheer vacuum in Libya and it became prone to increased violence and chaos. Consequently, Libyan crisis has whirled it into a thorny proxy war with the international backing of each of the contending sides for their ideological and economic interests.

Civilians are bearing the brunt of appalling crimes and have been bogged down in the middle of influence war between the mostly Tripoli-confined Fayez al-Sarraj's GNA and Tobruk-based Libyan-American citizen Khalifa Haftar-led LNA. The chronic armed conflicts in most parts of the country since the assassination of Gaddafi has displaced more than 300,000 civilians and killed thousands of people.

While global foes Russia and the U.S. are at odds in Libya too with the former supporting the GNA and the latter LNA over Libya's proximity to its shores, the European Union (EU) is also struggling to find a unified approach to the Libyan catastrophe over its wider concerns that France was providing military support to the warlord Haftar.

A Libyan fighter gathers near the coastal city of Derna, April 14, 2018. /VCG

The predominant infiltration of Muslim Brotherhood in Qatar and Turkey-backed GNA is milling Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) to aid Haftar to spurn "political Islam." In 2014, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh declared the transactional group a terrorist organization that briefly held power in Egypt during 2012 before being pulled down and swept up in a security crackdown.

The Berlin Conference on Libya last month, to forge a ceasefire agreement between the two main warring parties, also conceded that the instability, foreign interference, weapon proliferation and economy of predation bowled threats to international peace and security. But since the two vying sides were irreconcilable and have effectually split the state into east and west zones, not much optimism can be laid on the effort either.

Regional divergence is another challenge for an enforceable truce in Libya. After Turkey signed two agreements with GNA in November, a mutual defense treaty and a maritime deal, four other Mediterranean nations – France, Greece, Egypt and Cyprus – strongly condemned the Turkish move and called the pacts "null and void" claiming that they violate the territorial rights and undermined regional stability.

Following Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's admission that his military had suffered some losses in Libya but "neutralized" close to 100 fighters there – armed confrontations could escalate in the hapless country and can bully Geneva peace talks to implement a long-lasting ceasefire.

The signs of bigger tensions are already being materialized as LNA claimed of killing 16 Turkish fighters and a frigate near the port of Tripoli. Ankara's military actions are not viewed positively in the ranks of Erdogan supporters. Former Turkey's foreign minister Yassar Yakis recently cautioned him about the dangers of his policies in Syria and Libya.

It is quite clear that the snowballing process – which started off in Tunisia, expanded to Egypt and finally plagued Libya – did not lead to the social improvements, many Libyans would have hoped. The people in the country would be pressed to believe that they were more secure and well-off during Gaddafi government.

There is some strong social statistics to make them think in those lines. Under the Gaddafi administration, the living standard of the people in Libya was among the best in Africa and they were enjoying free electricity, medical care and education and subsidized housing and transport. The ongoing conflicts have stolen food and money from them as well as put their life security on the brink of jeopardy apart from making them homeless.

In the midst of deteriorating economic and peace conditions in Libya, Chinese stance of employing peaceful means to resolve Libyan conflict once again proved vindicated. China's warning in 2011 – if military action brings disaster to civilians and causes humanitarian crisis (in Libya) then it runs counter to the purpose of the UN resolution – is as real today as it was about 10 year before.

As the 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission dialogue could only put into effect a durable ceasefire and restore security to civilians if the regional and global players respect the territorial integrity of Libya and refrain from meddling into the beleaguered country.

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