The Malta Independent is proud to have been a sponsor in a very interesting debate and question and answer session about the situation in Libya yesterday.
During the session, former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi gave those who attended some insight, from his perspective, of the state of affairs within the fractured country. Dr Gonzi is in the unique position of having been a Prime Minister who had to deal with a rogue dictator on his country’s doorstep, to one that returned to the mainstream fold. That did not last long as Gaddafi turned to wage war on his own people.
The PM took decisions to impound two jets that defected to Malta, and then turned a plane back, which had flight crews on board to reclaim the jets – all the while, with an Air Malta plane awaiting clearance on the tarmac of Tripoli’s airport.
Gaddafi was subsequently removed from power as Libya united to dispose of the despot. Then he paid one of the first visits to a free Libya.
Four years on, he admits that the situation is far from what he hoped for, in terms of Libya fracturing and rival militias being more interested in fighting each other for control of the country while terrorist groups begin to establish themselves in a power vacuum that has been created.
Perhaps the most pertinent thing that Dr Gonzi observed was that while militias fought turf wars, the Libyan people faced a difficult time. He said that he had no doubt that the vast majority of them desired nothing more than being able to live in peace, decide their own destiny, send their children to school, go to work and earn a decent living like every other normal human being.
Dr Gonzi and other speakers present seem to believe that diplomacy should be given one more chance to find a solution to Libya’s problems. With one side allied to the Misurata Islamist militia, and the other side – the legally recognised Tobruk government – alienating large swathes of the population due to its links to former Gaddafi men, finding peace still seems elusive.
This has been exacerbated by the withdrawal of some factions from peace discussions brokered by the United Nations. All the while, extremist groups are on the rise and more atrocities are committed just across the Mediterranean Sea. It is clear that Libya must forge a unity government. It is also becoming increasingly more clear that we cannot apply the standards enjoyed by Western democracies in this situation.
The deadlock needs to be broken and a solution needs to be found. The solution cannot be found by the EU, the US and neither the UN. It must be found by the Libyan factions that must forge an alliance and set up a unity government that can take on the threat of IS. To do that, the country must strengthen its institutions and it must restore authority to the army. The name of Khalifa Haftar has again been mentioned as a potential head of the Libyan Armed Forces, but again, agreement seems distant.
The West must offer support, and we must be vigilant for threats on our own shores. Malta has long repeated the mantra that there can be no peace in Europe without peace in the Mediterranean. It is becoming abundantly clear that this is very much the case.