I am especially aggrieved by the unnecessary loss of life of Libyan civilians and Libyan military personnel who are being slaughtered in the current internecine conflict of “civil war”, as I have spent more than a quarter of a century working in this substantially arid country known as Libya. Throughout this long period of my life, I have come to know the Libyan people (all of them, whatever their tribal origin or way of thinking) as being kind, gentle and generous human beings to the extent of even providing employment to millions of expatriate workers. They have provided me with food, shelter, and wages for my services, and even organised my evacuation when a dangerous situation was imminent. I am thus eternally indebted to them and consider them to be my brothers and sisters. 

I am also much irritated by the hypocrisy expressed in the form of crocodile tears shed by so called “democratic” Western countries. In their strenuous attempt to take control of Libya’s lucrative natural resource known as black gold, they are encouraging Libyans to fight against other Libyans. As the current “civil war” drags on, both Libyans who are pro and against the current government are continuously shedding their blood, due to intervention of the military might of Nato. But the true reasons behind this atrocious state of affairs and the shedding of crocodile tears are as follows:

a) The UN Security Council member countries that have been most vociferous in their demand for the so called “no fly zone” with its wider applications are, in fact, mostly the countries from which the big oil producing corporations originate and have been operating in Libya on a 51:49 profit sharing ratios with the local Libyan government.  This has been considered a hard bargain for them, and would have preferred the situation of pre-1s September 1969 revolution, when the foreign oil corporations were supping away the Libyan oil at will, leaving little profit to the Libyan nation, which profit was in turn mostly diverted to the benefit of the few who controlled the country at that time.

b) As the demand for oil is constantly increasing while supply is decreasing, and alternative sources of energy are still considerably costly, Western countries are eager to take control and secure oil supplies for their own benefit – both as consumers, and in other cases, as producers. Moreover, as peak oil production is expected within the next few years, the eagerness to control this important energy resource has become more acute. Furthermore, as the recent catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan has caused considerable damage and danger to four atomic energy plants thereby rendering this type of energy generation even less attractive, the reliance on oil as an energy source has increased. 

c) Libyan oil is of high quality, with minimum sulphur content and other impurities, is easier to crack by the oil refineries and consequently is in high demand. Moreover, the underground reserves of crude oil have been calculated to be more abundant than other oil producing countries. No wonder then that those Western countries are shedding crocodile tears to take hold of this comparatively abundant and high quality crude.

d) The increase in oil price due to stoppage of Libyan oil production, although claimed that it might possibly stall the world’s economic recovery, have been beneficial to oil producing countries to the extent that some of them, such as North Sea oil, have become more profitable to produce, where previously it would have been considered uneconomical to produce at lower prices.

e) Some other Arab countries whose dictatorial leaders happen to be friendly with certain Western states have also indulged in having their security forces shooting and killing their own people to quell any rebellion, similar to accusations levelled at the current Libyan government, yet they got way with just a caution “to exercise restrain” without any talk of imposition of “no fly zone”, or arming the rebels, or shedding crocodile tears. Most probably, the divided Arab nations have had their arms twisted to support the UN resolution No. 1973 to avoid the same dose of the UN medicine. In a similar vein, where was the UN Security Council when Israel was bombarding south Lebanon few years ago (Gaza 2008 – 2009) under the pretext of attacking terrorists, but killing innocent women and children at the same time, or when the Chinese army was slaughtering rebellious students in Tiananmen Square (it was claimed that thousands of students had been killed) or the Zaire genocide, etc., etc.,? Isn’t this a clear case of double standards?

f) With a small population of about six million Libyans in that vast expanse of land, the Western powers thought it would be an easy task to set Libyan against Libyan by the customary divide and rule tactic, and invade at ease. They were terribly wrong. Their actions are aiding al-Qaeda operatives and making matters worse.

On the other hand, the more favourable offer by the Turkish government to act as intermediary between both parties in this internecine conflict, have been brushed aside. This is another proof that the so called “democratic” Western countries are not interested in bringing peace to the Libyan people but by shedding crocodile tears are trying to find an excuse to either send in their own troops in order to gain control of the black gold, or to set up a puppet government with whom they can strike a better deal for this important energy source. In both cases, knowing well my Libyan brothers and sisters, the Western countries will fail in their crusade. In the meantime, the true victims of this situation are the wives who have lost their husbands, the mothers who have lost their sons, the millions of expatriates and refugees who have lost their jobs and/or are escaping this dangerous situation, and oil consumers who have to pay a higher price for this commodity.     

“Inshallah” (God willing), both sides in this internecine conflict will put their heads together and, through their tribal leaders and the People’s Committees, will realise the dangers of foreign interference and will reach an amicable agreement to give peace a chance. Consequently, the Western powers would have shed their crocodile tears in vain.

Raymond Sammut

MELLIEHA