Libya An Overview
Since Tuesday 15th February a swift battle has been tearing apart the third middle-eastern country of recent weeks to attempt to topple their dictator; Muammar al-Gaddafi’s 42-year reign is crumbling. The speed at which events are unfolding have mostly been tracked by unofficial means such as Facebook and mobile phone videos for those few with access since there was a lockdown of all telecommunications the next day. However, recently BBC media teams have been able to enter the country.
Peaceful protests were first triggered in east Libya by the arrest of Fathi Tarbal, defence lawyer for families of 1,200 political prisoners killed by the Gaddafi regime in 1996. Around 10 people were killed that day, sparking more demonstrations on Wednesday. The scheduled protest on Thursday saw more people taking to the streets of Benghazi and unarmed protesters were shot down by government forces possessing heavy artillery; shockwaves created by these killings caused an upsurge of support from the city of Beida to help divert attention from Benghazi. The appearance of foreign militia resulted in most state armies turning to side with Libyans, allowing them to acquire weapons. On Friday in both cities more people died and several other cities consequently joined in the fight; civilian tactics have involved burning and taking over airports in order to prevent more militia from entering the country, most of them successful. However, the following Monday combat broke out in the capital, Tripoli. Military aircraft have been firing on Libyans, killing not only protesters but also blasting through homes of innocent bystanders; fears that Gaddafi would use even heavier firepower have come to fruition as onslaughts of aerial bombing fall on Tripoli and other airports, but thankfully many pilots taking orders from Gaddafi have defected. Present circumstances see most of the eastern Libya securely under civilian rule, whilst fatalities rise as battles continue to rage in the west.
A speech by his son, Saif al-Islam, on Monday 21st was met with unanimous hostility as spectators hurled their shoes at the transmission. He said violence had been precipitated by three different groups: lawyers or politicians with particular agendas, Islamic extremists, drug addicts and criminals. This attempt to waive responsibility for the use of militia has only loosened the regime’s grip on power, the threats of father and son that civil war could tear Libya into separate emirates falling shallow on listener’s ears, when the hope of change is what unites them and inspires their bravery. Gaddafi himself spoke to the BBC, American channel ABC and the Sunday Times on March 1st, denying that there were any protests at all, let alone war and asserted that the rest of the world ‘didn’t understand the system’. This serves merely to alienate the delusional Gaddafi further from the rest of the world as his allies dwindle to almost zero.
The BBC to date has approximated that over 1000 people have died, with thousands more casualties, and over 75,000 refugees are stuck no man’s land between Libya and Tunisia, unable to escape the violence behind them or reach safety in front and threats of a food crisis looms.
The EU has gone from urging for the ‘deplorable’ state violence to stop to imposing numerous sanctions on Gaddafi’s family and other state figures, such as freezing international assets and prohibiting their travel abroad. David Cameron has voiced his support, encouraged by signs of movement toward civilian rule and hopes for the forming of a new constitution and referendum. The right of European and American forces to enforce a no-fly zone has been questioned by France and Russia, though Cameron says Britain should prepare for ‘any eventuality’ – refuelling of Libyan aircraft as well as combat missions have even been considered.
Whilst the unanimous international support for Libya is encouraging as is the speed of humanitarian response, the readiness of countries such as Britain and the U. S. to consider military intervention could be cause for concern as what remains most important is the freedom of the Libyan people and trust from foreign powers that they know what is best for their own country. After all, many dread a situation similar to that in Iraq where the West overestimates its legitimacy and scope in laying down the law to a country trying to rid itself of a dictator; it can only be hoped that judgements on events by world leaders remain as responses of aid without tipping into the region of foreign law enforcement.
The sentiment expressed by Libyans worldwide is that Gaddafi’s move to employ foreign militia to control the situation changed the struggle from unrest to open war about freeing the country from occupation. Symbolising this is the flag of independence, used before Gaddafi’s reign, that has been taken up internationally as a sign of liberation to accompany the millions of voices shouting ‘Freedom for Libya’.
Phoebe Linton
