September 8, 2014

Egypt Asks For Support From The International Community To Help It Fix The Mess That NATO Created In Libya


An excerpt from, "Egypt seeks help in disarming Libyan militias" by Walaa Hussein, Al-Monitor, September 5, 2014:
Meanwhile, Cairo is seeking international support to guarantee the success of its initiative to restore stability in Libya and remove heavy weapons from the militias and tribes in return for their participation in political life. Egypt does not wish to interfere in Libyan affairs amid the lack of reliable institutions capable of completing the disarmament process. Thus, Cairo is seeking the help of international organizations such as the United Nations to ensure the success of the move, which it recently approved in ministerial-level meetings with Libya’s neighbors.
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Cairo is counting on the support of the international community and its various organizations to implement its initiative to support stability in Libya. Its current diplomatic moves aim to obtain international resolutions to impose sanctions that force the Libyan militias to hand over their heavy weapons to the weapon-collection fund it established as well as impose international sanctions on any country shown to support the arming of Libyan militias. In this context, the question arises as to what extent the international community will respond.
An excerpt from, "Email leak suggests long-term Egyptian role in Libya crisis" Middle East Eye, September 5, 2014:
Leaked email correspondence between Libyan and Egyptian officials reveal Egypt’s involvement in the ongoing Libyan conflict, and suggests Egyptian support for General Khalifa Haftar in his fight against militant groups and Islamists.

Messages exchanged between Libya's former transport minister in the now-defunct government led by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and Mohammed Abubakr Fattah, an official in Egypt's ministry of foreign affairs, appear to show that Libya requested ammunition and weapons from Egypt throughout August, reports Arabic news portal Noon Post.
An excerpt from, "Egypt's Options in Dealing with the Libyan Crisis (Part I)" by Nader Bakkar, Ahram Online, September 8, 2014:
Libyan weapons have contributed to the chaos and tribal fighting seen in Egypt by strengthening armed takfiri groups which have clearly demonstrated hostility towards Cairo in the wake of the struggle between the current Egyptian regime and the Muslim Brotherhood.  These groups await opportunities to infiltrate the borders to carry out terrorist operations deep inside Egypt, and it is possible that they were involved in the killing of over 20 Egyptian soldiers at the Farafra checkpoint near the Libyan border last month.  In addition, the indirect danger facing Egyptian workers in Libya quickly turned into direct targeting and potentially even assassinations based on their Egyptian identity following the fall of Mohamed Morsi’s government in Egypt in 2013.

For Egyptian policymakers, the Libyan issue is further complicated by the fact that it is not confined to armed takfiri groups; rather, these groups represent one aspect of the larger picture of the Libyan crisis.  The reality is that Libya in its entirety has become a state of militias with numerous different affiliations, and these militias are far more powerful than the official state.  Perhaps the convening of the new parliament in the city of Tobruk, 1,500 km east of Tripoli, is symbolic of this power inversion, with the official state being pushed to the sidelines while the sound of the militias’ bullets—which hold real power in Libya—reverberates in the heart of the capital.