Ariel Zirulnick provides an update on the rogue Libyan general’s campaign to stamp out the country’s Islamist militias:
On Wednesday, that former general, Khalifa Haftar, survived an assassination attempt outside Benghazi, Libya’s second city. Meanwhile, in Sirte, a Red Cross worker was killed, and in Tripoli, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the prime minister’s office. Ahmed Maiteeq has only been in office since last month, and is Libya’s fifth prime minister since the removal of former dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Mr. Maiteeq was elected during a chaotic parliamentary session. Today he lost a court ruling on the legality of that election, Reuters reports.
Libya’s political instability has allowed armed groups to become as pivotal in the country’s direction as its elected leaders. Mr. Haftar says his unsanctioned campaign against Islamist militias is needed because the government is too weak to bring them to heel, but the government has decried his actions – which including airstrikes – as a coup. Haftar’s forces also stormed the parliament last week.
Mary Fitzgerald takes a closer look at Haftar’s motivations:
In interviews with Western media, Haftar has divulged few details on the goals of his campaign. The septuagenarian general refers to his effort as a “war on terrorism” and speaks vaguely about how this battle is “on behalf of the whole world.” When Haftar speaks to Arab media, however, it is evident he is targeting Islamists more generally.
“The main enemy,” he told the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, “is the Muslim Brotherhood,” whose affiliated political party holds the second-largest number of seats in Libya’s elected national congress. Haftar vowed to purge the Islamist movement from Libya, referring to it as “this malignant disease that is seeking to spread throughout the bones of the Arab world.” He insisted he does not want to seize power, but would run for president if “the people demand it.”
As Hanan Salah sees it, Haftar’s campaign is a product of Libya’s total security breakdown, especially in Benghazi:
The steady drumbeat of violence over the past three years has undermined the authority of successive governments, and laid the groundwork for Haftar’s campaign. The earliest attacks were straightforward, targeting the Qaddafi-era state security forces and judiciary. But that has now changed: The victims now include journalists and activists who opposed former dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi during the 2011 uprising, but who dare to criticize the militias, Libya’s new masters.
I have heard dozens of judges, activists, and journalists in Benghazi express helplessness and fear of being next in line. Many have fled as a result. Some have also voiced concerns that inaction by authorities means acquiescence. “What are they [the government] waiting for?” one prominent former judge asked me. “Do they want us all to get killed before they respond?”
Noting that Haftar’s Islamist foes have labeled him an American agent, Wayne White warns that now might be a good time to evacuate the US embassy in Tripoli:
If the very core of governance can be struck so easily, any thought of meaningful local assistance to resist a violent attack against the US embassy is misplaced. And, with embassy staff shielded by defensive walls only meant to slow down attackers, plus a small US Marine security guard contingent not meant to resist a determined attack, reliable local government security is needed for protection. This is true for US embassies around the world. Moreover, aside from the endemic violence that’s now pervasive, it’s not even clear which parts of the government — let alone militias supposedly working for the government — currently answer to whom.
Previous Dish on Libya’s security woes here.
(Photo: A Libyan carries a portrait of retired general Khalifa Haftar during a rally in support of the rogue former general whose forces have launched a ‘dignity’ campaign to crush jihadist militias on May 23, 2014 in Benghazi, eastern Libya. By Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images)
