By Janet Ekstract
NEW YORK (TURKISH JOURNAL) – Libya is a nation fraught with discord whose people just want to be left in peace. The former Gaddafi general aka renegade warlord, Khalifa Haftar refuses to admit that the people of Libya do not support his dictatorial ambitions. Human rights groups report that in the swath of territory that Haftar controls – eastern Libya, Haftar and his militias are responsible for extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.
How Haftar ended up where he is you might already guess has something to do with the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who recruited him after he turned against Gaddafi in 2011, largely because Haftar saw what side his bread would be buttered on. One of his perks was gaining American citizenship, buying property estimated to be worth $8 million.
Funny thing though, the U.S. government is well aware of Haftar’s intentions and know better than to actually think such a warlord would ever give up his dreams of capturing Libya’s capital, Tripoli. The EU as well as America know Haftar is responsible for indiscriminate attacks, numerous civilian deaths and injuries not to mention attacking hospitals, residential areas, schools, civilians as well as blockading the sale of oil by shutting down vital ports.
The stark reality is that not a one is doing anything about this nor has any nation including the United Nations done anything more than verbally condemn Haftar’s actions though I would not go so far as to use the word condemn either. What’s worse is that Haftar has just declared that his Libya National Army (LNA) is the official government and that the Skihirat Agreement also known as the Libyan Political Agreement is no longer valid.
Haftar claims “the will of the people,” full well knowing that the will of the Libyan people is NOT with him in any way, shape or form regardless of how he may insist to the contrary. The Government of National Accord (GNA) backed by the United Nations and internationally recognized as the official democratic government of Libya has accused Haftar of attempting a coup d’etat.
In the most recent fighting, the GNA was able to take back a number of towns that Haftar had captured and deal a considerable blow to Haftar’s forces. Since Haftar only unofficially controls eastern Libya and some parts of western Libya, how is it that he can suddenly declare himself the new government of Libya?
Haftar is being backed by Russia and its Wagner Group, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan and purportedly France. The GNA is being supported by Turkey because the official Libyan government requested Turkey’s offer of assistance in December then later the two nations signed a mutual accord.
The conundrum is the fact that the UN has made no definitive move to punish Haftar, neither has the U.S. or the EU. As Fayez al-Sarraj, the prime minister of the GNA said the reason he turned to Turkey is that “no one was listening.” The prime minister publicly stated previously that the reason he turned to Turkey was because the EU turned a blind eye to his government’s predicament.
In an interesting turn of events, Haftar is being sued in the U.S. by two Libyan families who say he and his forces tortured their relatives to death and committed crimes against humanity. When you speak to Libyans ‘in the know’ they all say the same about Haftar: brutal, ruthless, manipulative and power grabbing.
There is no in-between in the long-standing Libyan conflict where thousands upon thousands of civilians suffer at the hands of Haftar’s brutal whims such as suddenly bombing airports and other infrastructure then threatening to down civilian airplanes arriving into Tripoli.
Until the powers that be are ready to say ‘enough is enough’ Haftar knows he’s gotten away with murder. As long as the U.S., the EU and the UN sit idly by watching Libya’s future erode into nothing but dust – Haftar will continue to threaten and take the lead.
The Libyan people deserve better than that, so does the GNA and those who run it. Haftar’s new claim is that he will create “civil institutions” claiming “people must have control over their fate” and “democratic means.” Is this the same Haftar who had never uttered a single word about ‘democracy’ which he has proven he has no desire for. This warlord has made it clear that his intentions are to dictate to people not to allow them self-governance. Haftar has repeatedly attempted to capture Libya’s capital without success and said: “From the very first day, our goal was to protect the Libyan people’s will.”
As dishonorable and as cunning as Haftar is there can be no turning back to the day’s of the dictator regime for Libya. Libyans protested against Haftar and held signs supporting and welcoming the support of Turkey in January. Clearly, Haftar does not possess the ‘will of the people’ as he so willfully suggests.
What the UN, the EU and America must do now is stand in solidarity with Libya’s GNA and find a way to make Haftar heel – easier said than done. So far, Haftar could not be persuaded to form a coalition government with al-Sarraj and he violated every single ceasefire he previously agreed to.
The larger issue is ‘the elephant in the room’ that no one is willing to call out. Were the ‘powers that be’ to simply give Haftar an ultimatum or threaten to remove him – he would presumably have no choice. But Haftar knows he’s being allowed to play ‘bad boy’ for as long as the Western world will tolerate his unpredicatable behavior and military attacks.
Now, Haftar suddenly claimed on April 28 that he had a “popular mandate” to rule the country to which the GNA denounced his desire as an attempted coup. The UN remains firm that the sole solution to the Libyan conflict can only be achieved “through dialogue between the parties under the aegis of the United Nations, not through unilateral decisions,” according to deputy spokesman Olivier Gauvin.
That sounds like a ‘nice idea’ but the ‘powers that be’ keep forgetting one teensy, tiny detail: dictators don’t negotiate – ever. To keep on hoping that Haftar will come to his senses and somehow magically negotiate a peace deal with al-Sarraj is a pipe dream. That, most assuredly will never happen.
Haftar is a bully and bullies only understand one thing: forcing their hand. There can be no wrong moves in this deadly game of chess. Either the ‘powers that be’ immediately unite to condemn Haftar and strip his American citizenship as well as freeze his U.S. assets or they’re looking at another very long century of a brutal military dictatorship which in the end has no winners only losers.
The renegade warlord Khalifa Haftar has no legal claims to the nation known as Libya. He was not elected prime minister, Libyans have made it clear they don’t want him and his actions demonstrate the opposite of democracy. It is now up to the ‘powers that be’ to get their act together and put a total halt to any further actions from Haftar.
