More than a year after the overthrow of the regime of the Gaddafi regime, peace is yet to return.
The 2011 Western-backed rebellion against the regime of Libya’s leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi ended with his overthrow and eventual assassination. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO-led bombardments of the country also ended and the Western countries that were bent on seeing Gaddafi out of power at all cost can now focus on their actual target – the country’s vast oil reserves and juicy reconstruction contracts.
Only the naïve and misinformed would think that the NATO-led military intervention in that country was about saving the people from a ‘ruthless dictator!’ History has shown that apart from environmental disasters and serious humanitarian crises, hardly any power in the world acts out of kindness and compassion. Political realism guides governments to act not out of moral and legal principles, but according to considerations of power, geopolitical, economic and other strategic interests. So also was it for the 2011 drive for regime change in Libya that was carefully wrapped in the United Nations resolution to protect civilians!
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Since Col. Gaddafi’s overthrow in August 2011 and killing on October 20 of the same year, hope of stability returning to the country seems to be waning by the day. The reasons for the instability are many. First, the ruling National Transitional Council, NTC government in Tripoli that was recognised by the West even before Gaddafi’s overthrow, today has no control over the country. It does not have forces of its own and hardly any of the many armed groups in the country abides by its decisions. The absence of a strong central government has therefore made it difficult for any Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, DDR programme to take place. Thus, armed militias lord it over their territories, running their own local government, judiciary, detention centres and collecting ‘taxes.’ Many weapons from last year’s war continue to circulate freely with no functional police force or army to stamp its authority. Taking advantage of the generalised chaos, ethnic leaders in Benghazi - Libya’s second city and capital of the Eastern Region of Cyrenaica – last March declared the autonomy of the Cyrenaican provincial government. On the other hand, there has been growing tensions between different tribes and ethnic groups, often ending in bloody clashes. With Gaddafi now dead and gone and his regime history, Libyans who excitedly joined forces against his rule are beginning to see the new reality. Some of the many services that they enjoyed under his nearly 42-year-old reign are now gone. Gaddafi's regime improved the health standards of Libyans so much that in 2009, America’s CIA's ‘World Factbook’ showed the average life expectancy of a Libyan to be 77 years - only one year less than that of an American. Under him, Libyans enjoyed much improved housing and education, comprehensive social welfare services and general standards of health that were among the highest in Africa. With the heavy bombardments of the country last year, it is anyone’s guess what is still left in terms of infrastructure like schools, hospitals, roads, airports, etc. Today, Libya is fast relapsing into a failed state. Pro-Gaddaffi forces have started a low-level counter offensive by attacking NTC-led government positions. The once strong and united country is today a balkanized State. Only last week, the head of NTC was attacked in a pitch battle by armed militia who advanced on his office in Tripoli atop mounted armoured vehicles. Though they were eventually repulsed, the militiamen, no doubt, made their intention known - to make Libya ungovernable! |
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