By Federica Fanuli
Editor-at-Large, IndraStra Global
Al Sarraj, the
Premier of the Libyan government of national union, has landed in Tripoli. The
man of the United Nations waits for the official political support of the
opposition, the militias and the population in order to drag out of the Libya
crisis that has plunged four years ago, after the events of the Arab Spring
that have sparked violent tribal revolts, up the collapse of the Rais Gaddafi
regime.
In February
2011, during the anniversary of the massacre of Abu Slim in the prison in
Tripoli in 1996, thousands of people poured into the streets of Benghazi.
Protests spread out like wildfire and the wave of Arab Spring kicks off the
"Revolution of February 17". With ten votes in favor, five
abstentions - Russia, China, Brazil, India and Germany - and no votes against,
the UN Security Council have approved resolution authorizing a no-fly zone over
Libya, while Gaddafi is going to attack Benghazi after the Rais has hit almost
all the rebel centers of power. If the Resolution has required an immediate
cease-fire and the end of the hostility, it does not exclude the use of force
as well. As matter of the fact, the NATO has bombed Libya. Thus, the era
Gaddafi has ended.
The first free election after the fall of the regime of
Colonel has not encouraged optimistic forecasts and the responsibility of
having left the country to tribal uprisings has weighed on Western powers.
Libya has fallen gradually into chaos and two months after the victory of the
moderate coalition, militants of the group at the Fajr Libya led by the Islamic
militia of Misrata, has conquered the capital. The country is divided into two
political camps. In Tobruk city, at east side of Libya, there is the
headquarters of the secular and democratic government - which has full
international approval – of the Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani. At the west
side, in Tripoli, has settled the "national salvation government",
led by Omar al-Hasi, supported by the militias of Misrata and various Islamic
groups. Third actor occupying the Libyan political scene is the Islamic State.
The fightings have not stopped and the political vacuum of Libya as failed
State has facilitated the jihadist penetration.
The UN has committed in an
attempt to initiate a plan for the stability and salvation of the country and,
after years of effort, the special envoy of the United Nations in Libya,
Bernardino Leon, has announced the formation of a national union government led
by Fayez El Sarraj, deputy of the Chamber of the Representatives of Tobruk. The
scenario is complicated, however, by the fragility of the political
institutions. The neo-Sarraj Government may not achieve the legitimacy of two
thirds of the Parliament meeting in Tobruk and without a majority that allows
the executive Libya to settle, it is impossible to approve of military
intervention in Libya allies against DAESH.
Since October of last year, the
favourable vote to Al Serraj government has not arrived and the situation has
become more complicated because of the DAESH advance to the main areas Libyan
rich in oil resources. Now, Fayez Al Sarraj is in Tripoli despite the threats
of his opponents - the head of the Tripoli "government" and the
President of Parliament, respectively Khalifa al-Nouri Abu Gwell and Sahmain,
and the President of Tobruk Parliament, Aguila Sale - against whom the European
Union has submitted sanctions. Serraj has the full Western support and the approval
of the national oil company, the Libya National Oil Corporation.
Great
responsibilities now wait for the Government of the Libyan national union,
which has had a strong acceleration, to ferry Libya out of the chaos in a
stable condition, considering settlement procedures and the war against
terrorism, internal and external challenges that blow on political
fragmentation of the country and that to be fought require the intervention of
an international coalition, which will be implemented only if authorized by the
Libyan government.
About The Author:
Federica Fanuli was graduated with
honours in Political Science and International Relations from the University of
Salento and she has obtained a Master’s Degree in Political Science, European
Studies and International Relations at the same University. Foreign Affairs
analyst, she is Editorial Manager of Mediterranean Affairs, a project aiming to
provide analyses that cover the Mediterranean area. Columnist of the Sunday
Sentinel, she is Editorial Board Member of Cosmopolismedia.it and
Editor-at-large of IndraStra Global. She can be reached at her LinkedIn profile.
/ Thomson Reuters ResearcherID : M-9093-2015
