generalspeaking

A Movable Terror Feast

"We would actually like to disband ourselves, but until there is a proper police force, we will have to stay. The problem is that there are still lots of illegal militias around, kidnapping, robbing and blackmailing."
"For example, the homosexuals were disturbing neighbours by making wild parties, dressing as women and carrying on in obscenity. This is against our Islamic society; maybe it is different outside Libya."
Islamist warlord Hisham Bishr

"If we don't get help in forming the police and army, things are going to take a very long time. The situation is not going to improve unless we get real and practical assistance."
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan

"Zeidan prefers dialogue and compromise, but many Libyans feel he is now just giving too much leeway to armed minorities. We still have fresh memories of dictatorship, but already Libyans are saying that what they need is a benign dictator. While it's said in jest, it makes a certain point."
Tripoli journalist Sami Zaptia

 Hisham Bishr speaks modestly of his aspirations for Libya as the most powerful militiaman in Tripoli. Commanding one of the rebel brigades ousting Col. Moammar Gadhafi, he now is head of Tripoli's "supreme security committee"; a private army posing as a government military arm. Privately he crusades against gangsters, drug dealers and gays, with a distinctly Islamist fervour.

Publicly he is the face of the new government's attempt to bring order and stability to the country in the face of challenges from all the other tribal militias who aided in bringing down the Gadhafi regime, and who now consider themselves fully entitled to carry on as private militias, steadfastly refusing all government invitations to turn in their weapons.

The uprising that NATO reluctantly but fully supported for the removal of a vicious tyrant to liberate the country from his clutches, has turned out not quite the success it was initially envisaged to be. Al-Qaeda-linked factions are thriving in the new environment, weapons are everywhere, and jihadis and their weapons have made their way into Syria to continue with their own brand of liberation.

While Prime Minister Zeidan, in Britain to invite foreign investment, pleaded for help with the country's basic security, U.S. commandos took possession of a Libyan wanted for criminal activities, interrogating him on a U.S. warship and transporting him back to the United States to stand trial on charges of terrorism. Militias that blamed Mr. Zeidan for enabling the abduction pledged to take revenge.

Their revenge was to abduct the prime minister until another militia, aligned with the government and likely with Hisham Bishr who claims to command 12,000 armed men, released him.  Local militias hold thousands of 'prisoners' in their very own private jails. One of those prisoners is Saif al-Islam, one of Gadhafi's sons; the local militia insists on trying him themselves while Tripoli authorities demand he be handed over.

Libyans have reason not to be enthralled with the efficient administration of their interim government. Streets piled with garbage in Tripoli, and energy blackouts that last up to eight hours daily, public buildings ruined by NATO bombs, and new buildings in suspension, do not exactly inspire confidence.

Apart from the presence of jihadist militias, federalist militias in the east, rich with oil deposits, have blockaded oil terminals, planning to sell the oil independently. They insist that revenues are being siphoned off to bankroll a takeover of central government by Islamist parties in Tripoli. In fact militias circled the justice ministry with truck-mounted weapons with their demand for a new "isolation law."

That would be a law outlawing former Gadhafi officials from holding office. Prime Minister Zeidan's government, if it acceded to the gunpoint-demand would find itself without the largest portion of competent bureaucrats and secularists. Leaving the way clear for Islamist parties to dominate parliament.

"The revolution has been stolen from us. Joblessness is very high, and we have no proper infrastructure or security. Nothing has changed except our flag", said Osama Sabaai a former fighter for rebels in Tripoli.

"The delivery of government services that should have come with elections has not really materialized yet. Some Libyans are wondering whether this is what they had a revolution for", said one Western diplomat. 

And no doubt the West also wonders whether NATO made a sound decision involving itself in the revolt against Gadhafi given that the eastern city of Benghazi remains off limits for foreign ambassadors.

It has become the bailiwick of Ansar al-Sharia, the al-Qaeda militia that stormed the U.S. consulate a year ago, killing U.S. diplomat Chris Stevens. Initially forced out by a backlash from the public, they have since returned to once again take possession of their enclave.

Labels: Chaos, Conflict, Crisis Management, Islamists, Libya, Soc

posted by Pieface @ Monday, October 21, 2013