At long last, international action against the Gaddafi regime began in earnest yesterday. The time for talk came to an end and the long overdue time for action has now commenced. But while the military action that was just getting off the ground at the time of writing is not likely to be a case of too little, it could be a case of too late.
As the city of Benghazi was facing its heaviest assault yet from the Gaddafi regime yesterday morning, the world’s leaders were seen on our television screens talking for what seemed like endless hours. Now we are not so naïve as to imagine that such wide-ranging international clout can be mustered at the drop of a hat, and the participation of certain countries was also paramount to the perception of the exercise at hand.
But still, over 36 hours since the passing of the United Nations Security Council’s resolution approving air strikes, all the world’s leaders had been able to do was talk options.
Moammar Gaddafi took advantage of that window of apparent international indecision to attack the heart of the five-week-old uprising yesterday by sending troops, tanks and jet fighters swarming into Benghazi. Exploding shells shook buildings and the sounds of battle drew closer to Benghazi’s centre as the world’s leaders posed for their traditional ‘family photograph’.
The Gaddafi regime was claiming at the time it was fully respecting the United Nations’ call for a ceasefire. But such a hollow claim is of little surprise from a man who on Thursday evening was taunting the international community by warning those in Benghazi of their impending fate, at the very time that the United Nations Security Council was sitting down to decide on allowing air strikes against his regime.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, seemingly rabid for action for at least the last week, emerged from yesterday’s Paris talks with an announcement that military action would finally begin, and it did. British Prime Minister David Cameron gave the same signals soon after. Then came US President Barack Obama, who similarly endorsed action.
French, British and American leaders were joined by a host of partners yesterday in pledging and, more importantly, beginning to act in terms of doing what has been necessary for, at the very least, several days now. Only time will tell if such action has come too late in the day but, whatever the case, it was certainly too late for those who have perished in the meantime.
The Libyan rebels − revolutionaries, freedom fighters, opposition, or whatever label is placed on those brave people desperately trying to shake free from their four decade shackles – have been deserving of the full support of the international community since their insurgency began. And they have had plenty of it – in words rather than actions.
Now, finally, it seems that the necessary is being done and thanks go to France, the UK, the US and their European and Arab partners for, in the end, taking the right decision – to put an end to the Gaddafi regime’s violence once and for all.
As for much of the rest of the world – the Chinas, Russias, Germanys, Indias and Brazils who abstained from Thursday’s UNSC vote − let’s try to do better next time.
The world and its preparedness to act swiftly in the face of a humanitarian crisis, if that is in fact the appropriate word for the massacre of citizens and innocents, has failed the litmus test miserably, irrespective of what transpires between the time of writing and this morning.
A long time in politics, and news
Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously coined the phrase ‘a week is a long time in politics’, but it is also a long time newswise.
This time last week the British media were falling over each other in their praise for Malta over the way it had dealt with the mass evacuations of foreign nationals from Libya. Now sections of that same press are portraying Malta as being practically in league with Gaddafi – because the Libyan regime requested Malta and a handful of other countries – notably a selection of those who had abstained from the UNSC resolution – to monitor the claimed, yet farcical, ceasefire Libya said it had implemented.
One wonders how Malta would have voted had it been one of the UNSC’s rotating members on Thursday night.
Foreign Minister Tonio Borg was grilled yesterday on Sky News over Gaddafi’s dubious invitation, Malta’s reticence to proffer the island as a military base for air raids and its non-participation in military action.
For starters, he should have made it clear that Malta does not have a military to speak of in this regard. He did, however, make reference to the country’s two refusals to hand back the Mirage fighter jets it is holding to the Gaddafi regime.
But, on the other hand, Malta’s neutrality clause admittedly becomes questionable and difficult to justify within the current context − in which there is a very fine line indeed between military and humanitarian action − in that there are times when neutrality needs to be thrown out the window.
Malta has so far done a fine job of straddling the fence with it feet swinging on the correct side, now it is high time it jumps down and plants its feet firmly on the ground.