TRIPOLI, Oct 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — For almost a decade the Libyan capital, Tripoli, has seen a kaleidoscope of conflict.
The heady days of the revolution of 2011 – which unseated long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi – are long gone.
In the ensuing years there has been a Libya-like rendition of the TV series Game of Thrones, all about violent power struggles, involving competing militias, rival governments and, increasingly, foreign players.
In the capital these days the distant thud of battle punctuates the rumble of the traffic, but the streets are busy. This is a city fuelled by oil, coffee and resilience.
The latest round of battle began in April when a renegade commander, General Khalifa Haftar, led forces from his power base in eastern Libya to make an assault on Tripoli in the west.
He heads the self-styled Libyan National Army, and already controls most of the country. But six months on, Tripoli still eludes the moustachioed military strongman, who is backed by the Tobruk-based government. He is stuck on the southern outskirts of the city.
Gen Haftar has been held off by an array of militias – which often fight each other – now fighting under the banner of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA).
It is backed by the UN, but its writ barely runs inside Tripoli, much less outside it. It is struggling to keep the lights on and the water running, even in the capital.
For many who defend Tripoli it is more a case of opposing Gen Haftar than backing the GNA – and there are plenty in the capital who support neither.
But Gen Haftar has powerful friends abroad, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia. Increasingly the battle for Tripoli is another proxy war in the Middle East.
The GNA too has foreign supporters – Turkey and Qatar – but the big guns are on the other side.
As foreign players stoke the conflict, Tripoli counts the cost. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that since April, at least 1,000 people have been killed, including around 100 civilians, and 120,000 displaced.
“Every day we are burying young people who should be helping us build Libya,” said Fathi Bashagha, the GNA’s interior minister.
He accused the international community, including the UK, of failing to support the country since 2011.
“They did not complete the project. They wanted to remove Muammar Gaddafi but they should have supported us to rebuild a country, and to rebuild the army. Instead they left us.”
The minister said that with the government focused on the defence of Tripoli, the militant Daesh group and al-Qaeda can take advantage of the vacuum.
“They will use this chance. They can grow now in the desert, and they can move, and nobody can stop them,” said Bashagha.
And he warned of another danger – that Libya will descend into all-out civil war if the conflict continues.
There have been warnings too from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said recently that Libya is starting to resemble Syria.
She is pushing for an international peace conference before the end of the year.
“It’s imperative we do everything we can to make sure this does not escalate into a proxy war,” she said.
Reports of Russian mercenaries, Egyptian military advisers, and Emirati drones in Libya all indicate it may be too late for that. — NNN-AGENCIES
