War-shattered Libya tomorrow marks one year of its latest bloody conflict that is plunging it ever deeper into chaos.
Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and others have fueled the fighting in the oil-rich, but poverty-stricken North African nation where hundreds have been killed and more than 150,000 displaced.
Militias in the south of the capital, Tripoli, have been firing bullets, mortars and grenades at each other, the explosions echoing across the city.
Photo: AFP
Libya has been gripped by chaos for almost a decade, since former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi was brought down and killed in a 2011 uprising backed by several Western powers.
It is now split between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and forces loyal to Libyan National Army Commander Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive to try to capture the capital on April 4 last year.
One year on, and several failed ceasefires later, “we are simply witnessing the decimation of a nation,” said analyst Jalel Harchaoui of the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, the Netherlands.
UN Ambassador to Libya Ghassan Salame threw in the towel in early last month following the repeated failure of efforts to restore order, although he said his resignation was for health reasons.
A Berlin summit in late January saw Moscow, Ankara and other foreign players engaged in Libya pledge to respect an arms embargo and support a truce, but barely 10 days later, Salame was denouncing violations and a continuous influx of foreign arms and mercenaries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has openly sent military equipment and fighters to the GNA.
Russia, Egypt and the UAE have supported what Haftar claims is a campaign against jihadist “terrorists” and “criminals.”
As Haftar’s offensive has so far failed to take Tripoli, Erdogan’s government has been able “to increase its presence and influence in the Libyan capital,” Harchaoui said.
In the past few months, Erdogan sent hundreds of pro-Turkish Syrian fighters to battle the pro-Haftar forces, who are supported by Russian mercenaries that Moscow denies having sent.
Armed groups from western Libya are fighting Haftar forces “in an existential battle,” said Wolfram Lacher of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “Haftar’s forces are notorious for looting and summary executions, and they include groups that are motivated by a thirst for revenge against entire communities.”
“The fear of war crimes, of collective punishment, of marginalization under dictatorial rule means that the forces fighting against Haftar won’t give up easily,” Lacher said.
Fighting has intensified in the past few days, despite the latest pledges by both sides to accept UN and international calls for a humanitarian truce to help contain the spread of COVID-19.
The international community’s “distraction linked to COVID-19 has accelerated and exacerbated this escalation which, in any case, was inevitable,” Harchaoui said.
A few days ago, the GNA even announced a counteroffensive named “peace storm.”
Fighting is still concentrated south of Tripoli and east of the coastal city of Misrata, after pro-Haftar forces in early January captured Sirte, about 250km away.
Fears of war and disease have piled on misery for displaced people such as Fatma Khairi, who has taken refuge in a school building in the working class district of Abu Slim in the south of Tripoli.
“I have a lot of trouble with the communal toilets where often there is no water or soap,” Khairi told reporters. “My family and I live in dramatic conditions that I can hardly describe to you. The situation has become unbearable.”
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