Chaos continues to reign in Libya. 11 years after the NATO intervention and the murder of Muammar Gaddafi, the North African country continues to find no peace.
The country is in fact still divided into several factions. In particular, in the capital Tripoli, power is held by Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibeh, who has the support of NATO and Turkey in particular. The rest of the country, in particular the eastern part centered in Tobruk, is instead controlled by forces linked to Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The two sides, under the supervision of the UN, had reached an agreement in 2021 to organize elections in December of the same year.
However, the election date was also skipped due to the question of the possible participation of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Colonel's son. The Prime Minister of Tripoli and his Western allies do not in fact look favorably upon the candidacy and eventual victory of a member of the Gaddafi family.
With the elections postponed to a later date, the Parliament of Tobruk intervened, recognized as the legitimate legislative power of the country since 2014, when it received the preference of the Libyans during the last elections. And a pretty clear indication came from the Tobruk parliament about the person who should have assumed leadership in the country.
This is Fathi Bashagha who received the post of Prime Minister. However, the attempted settlement of Bashagha in Tripoli ended badly due to the violent reaction of Mohammed Dbeibeh, the NATO man in the Libyan capital. An assault on the convoy of the elected Prime Minister thus forced Bashagha to flee, returning the political situation of the country to a stalemate.
In recent days, however, the chaos has increased. The soldiers of the army near Bashagha, also supported by Marshal Haftar, have in fact decided to block the production of oil, thus preventing the black gold from reaching the National Oil Corp, the Libyan state company, and used in the market local and international.
Production thus decreased by approximately 865 thousand barrels per day, with a loss of 90 million cubic meters. The blockade has a clear political significance: until Tripoli accepts the choice of the Tobruk Parliament, the oil taps remain closed. And now foreign interests in the North African country could once again blow on popular uprisings.
In recent days, a group of demonstrators has in fact attacked the Parliament of Tobruk, using bulldozers and even starting a fire. According to the Libyan National Liberation Army, the one near Haftar, the demonstration was infiltrated by external agents. Not only. Several demonstrators were wearing yellow-green vests, thus suggesting a very well organized and not very spontaneous protest.
Meanwhile, among the protests, the presence of terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda was reported, while ISIS also seems to have returned to activity in the Sebratha area, halfway between Tripoli and the border with Tunisia.
In light of this dramatic situation, it is always useful to remember those who sponsored the NATO intervention in 2011 and called for the killing of Gaddafi.
References:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/03/un-secretary-general-urges-calm-libya-protests-tripoli
