The conclusions on the way forward with respect to Libya from this week’s European Union summit leave a lot to be desired, considering the fact that all hell is breaking loose just south of the EU’s borders and, more importantly to us here in Malta, directly south of our own shores.
There are the multiple threats posed by Islamic extremists taking hold in Libya: threats of those extremists setting their sights on an attack on EU soil, of a fractured Libyan state leading to even greater chaos than that predominating at the moment, and the threat of a mass exodus from Libya toward the EU should matters degenerate further than they already have.
While it could very well be the case that the EU’s leaders discussed a whole lot more about Libya behind the closed doors of the European Council than what came out in the actual summit conclusions, the EU Council’s official statement at the end of Friday’s meeting does not do much by way of assurances that the EU is on top of the situation.
Acknowledging that the crisis in Libya constitutes a serious challenge to the EU’s peace and security, EU leaders called for an ‘immediate and unconditional’ ceasefire and a rapid agreement on a new national unity government – arguing that a political solution is the real way forward. It also appeared to have passed the buck again to current work being undertaken by the United Nations.
EU leaders, however, made it clear in their end-of-summit statement that the bloc will not act on Libya until there is an agreement on a national unity government and once there is such an agreement it will ‘contribute to its (the unity government’s) implementation’.
Put in simple terms, this means that the EU, at least for the time being, sees it fit to merely sit by the sidelines as the UN brokers a new government while its very own member states are at risk until a new government is agreed upon. Once there is such an agreement, it will help set up the new government.
This is of very little consolation to those member states such as Malta that lie too close for comfort to this severely destabilised country which is being overridden by extremists from the Islamic State and other like-minded organisations.
Of some solace, however, was the statement that the EU is to ‘step up its engagement on counter-terrorism in the region, with relevant partners’.
Sadly, that was it as far as the Libya situation is concerned.
And in the meantime, matters are going from bad to worse to worse still in Libya.
On Thursday, the head of the internationally recognised government’s army, exiled to Tobruk, issued a stern warning that Europe will face infiltration by Islamic State group militants from Libya if western nations do not support the Tobruk government with arms and ammunition.
He said that the number of Islamic State militants has grown to an estimated 7,000 to 7,500, and include fighters from African, Arab and Middle Eastern countries trained in Syria.
He also repeated the warning that IS militants will spread even in European countries if (the West) doesn’t offer real help to the Libyan people, especially the Libyan army. The extremists, he said, ‘will head with the illegal migrants to Europe, where destruction will spread just like in Libya. But there it will be hard to confront them’.
His comments on Thursday were timed to quote conveniently with the commencement of the EU summit on the same day, but it seems that his message had fallen on deaf ears in the Brussels’ Justus Lipsius building where EU summits are held.
The Tobruk government has appealed to the UN Security Council to lift an arms embargo and facilitate its request for dozens of fighter jets, tanks and other weapons it says it needs to fight the Islamic State group.
The Islamic State group has seized control of at least two cities along Libya's Mediterranean coastline and has a strong presence in several others. It also claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on a museum in neighbouring Tunisia that killed 23 people, mostly foreign tourists.
The Islamic State has taken control of the coastal cities of Darna and Sirte and spreading its influence to others, including the western city of Sebratha, the most active launching point for migrants heading to Europe.
It has carried out attacks targeting hotels housing foreigners in Tripoli, notably on the Maltese-owned Corinthia Hotel, overrun oil fields and kidnapped foreign workers. Last month it released a video of a mass beheading of Egyptian Christians kidnapped from Sirte.
The Islamic State group is fighting both rival governments: it is battling Libya Dawn outside Sirte and has been targeted by Tobruk’s warplanes in Darna, prompting retaliatory suicide attacks by the extremists against the recognised government.
In Libya's second-biggest city, Benghazi, Tobruk’s forces have been fighting IS fighters and a mix of other Islamic militant groups for months in battles that have repeatedly seen gruesome beheadings of soldiers by IS militants.
Whichever way one looks at it, the Islamic State poses a very clear and present danger to Malta – just 350 kilometres north of Tripoli as the crow flies, and the closest EU member state to Libya, where the Islamic State is apparently planting its roots ever deeper and deeper.
Given that danger, Malta and the EU expected more from this week’s EU summit, but sadly not much by way of reassurance was forthcoming.