Q&A: Recent Political Developments in the Libyan Arena

Question:

What is taking place in Libya is interesting, at a time when military action is increasing, negotiations are under way in France, Algeria, Morocco and Libya itself, what is the explanation of this? Can we say that what is taking place of these two extremes, military actions and negotiations, is the result of a European American conflict in Libya? Is a military intervention through a Security Council resolution expected as an example? Or is it not a possibility, and negotiations will continue between the parties to find a solution? Is it possible that the negotiations will lead to the solution that satisfies the conflicting parties? Jazak Allah Khair

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Answer:

First: Since World War II, the British have been running Libya’s affairs, especially during the Gaddafi rule, during the 40 years of his rule he filled it with agent-politicians to the British, and the political circle at the time was almost empty of American agents. Thus, in order for the Americans to extend their influence in Libya and afflict the European influence especially the dominating British power in Libya after World War II until today, and then to control the situation and seize power in Libya, they could not even have a strong force on the ground. They had to send their agent Khalifa Haftar who was residing in America for more than twenty years. He was sent to Libya after the outbreak of the revolt against Gaddafi in an attempt to become the leader of the revolution or one of its influential leaders. They mobilized him to instigate a rebellion on 14/2/2014 against the new regime, which was under the British control in the name of General National Congress and the government, he worked to overthrow them. He was unable to do so even though he captured many areas. And by this the Americans attempted by using their agent Haftar to disable the General Elections that took place in 25/06/2014. The elections took place on time. On 6/11/2014, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court issued the Libya resolution, it stated: “the unconstitutionality of paragraph 11 of Article 30 of the amended constitutional declaration under the Seventh Amendment dated 11/3/2014 and all the implications from it” which means the Board of Deputies is dissolved and all the institutions emanating from it. However, some Libyans, regional and international parties did not accept this Court decision. Hence in Libya there were two governments and two parliaments, one in Tobruk and one in Tripoli, while the government and parliament recognized internationally and regionally are those of Tobruk:

– Haftar dominates the Parliament and the Government of Tobruk and is not concerned with it, even his men protested against the head of the government Abdullah al-Thani because he visited Benghazi without permission from Al-Thani! The troops belonging to Haftar intercepted a plane carrying the Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani from landing in Benghazi 5/2/2015! The differences between Haftar and Al-Thani are known; Africa News Portal site on 05/2/2015 quoted Libyan officials as saying, “The differences between the Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani who is also a military man who served as defense minister and the commander of Operation Dignity and Haftar have reached the semi-deadlocked despite mediation attempts which recently took place between the two parties to contain the tension that erupted in the relations between them last year after Abdullah al-Thani considered that what Haftar is doing is a military coup.” That was when Haftar mobilized on 14/2/2014, Al-Thani have endorsed the second Haftar move after he resumed it in 16/5/2014 and called it Operation Dignity (Al-Karamah Operation), but Haftar still has qualms with Al-Thani, he is treading America’s plan in the same line as Sisi hoping to become president! He has been able to impose on Parliament to appoint him as general leader of the Libyan army, rank of lieutenant, and then he was officially sworn in on 9/3/2015. Also the appointment of Major General Abdul Razak An-Nazouri as chief of staff took place and he is pro-Haftar, and thus the government of Tobruk is dominated by America.

– As for the General Conference and the Tripoli government, its leader is Abu Sahmain and a group around him, they follow Europe, particularly the British. Along with this group, there are also Muslim men in the conference who are detached from the British, but they lack the political awareness thus making it easy for the men of Europe to sway them to the party of their choosing! Thus, the General Conference and the Tripoli government are dominated by Europe, i.e. by the British and some by France and a little by Italy…

Thus, the conflict exists between Europe and America in Libya, but they are often struggling through local tools! We have already explained this conflict and how it developed, in our question and answer dated 3/6/2014, and it is published on the Facebook page, if you wish to find out more, please refer to it.

Second: As for the military intervention, the United States lacks the political medium in Libya, most of them are British agents and on those around them and those under their umbrella of some Islamic movements that are not aware of the political ploys and severe outcomes… Therefore America relies on military action, so Haftar was chosen and was supported from Egypt, Obama even asked Congress to authorize him to carry out military action in some situations. This request does not rule out intervention in Libya, the situation in Libya is critical, the Reuters agency on 23/2/2015 reported that Obama sent a letter to Congress in which he said, “The situation in Libya continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” What is understood from the American President’s message to Congress is that the United States position in Libya is critical or in danger, namely that America is not in a strong position in Libya and that its agents are not strong. They are embodied by the Haftar movement not more, they have been expelled from the capital Tripoli and were unable to return, despite the passage of several months, and they could not control Benghazi. Therefore, military intervention serves the interests of America and saves its agents to continue in their service. Thus, when the killing of the Coptics took place in these circumstances, Egypt worked to exploit it and rushed attempting to take an international mandate to intervene in Libya under the pretext of fighting terrorism and in revenge for the killing of its citizens. The Egyptian military intervention on 16/2/2015 has breathed in a new life in Haftar and his followers, and they were strengthened and the prospects for a political solution were dwindling. Europe stood strongly against military intervention in the crisis, Britain rushed to stand in the face of the Egyptian military intervention in Libya. “Algeria and Britain confirmed on Thursday, February 19 that they support a political solution and not a military one in Libya, in a joint statement of the foreign ministers of the two countries in Algiers. The British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a press conference with his Algerian counterpart, Ramtane La’mamra “I do not believe that military action could lead to a settlement of the problem in Libya.” For his part, the Algerian minister said, “we are keen, as neighbors to Libya to be part of the solution, not the problem.’” (Russia Today, 19/2/2015).

Britain headed the opposition in the Security Council for military intervention or arming the Government of Tobruk and Haftar’s Army. Ibrahim Ad-Dabbashi Libya’s delegate in the United Nations has told the Middle East newspaper “that some members of the UN Security Council, led by Britain asked the Panel of Experts to send a message to justify their opposition that approves the deal to raise embargo on arms from the Libyan Army, explaining that this is an attempt to remove their embarrassment,” he said, “Britain does not want the Libyan army to settle the matter with the terrorists and militias in control of the capital Tripoli. This is an open game.”” (Middle East, 07/03/2015). Europe’s position in harmony with Britain was apparent, which rejects the Egyptian military intervention, even Italy’s interior minister Angelino Alvanud to appease America has called for an “urgent intervention through an operation under the United Nations command” (Al-Hayat, Tuesday, February 17, 2015). Hethen retreated his statement as a result of the European campaign against military intervention. “Tunisian Foreign Minister, At-Tayeb Al-Baccouche and his Italian counterpart Paulo Jentelauni that ending the crisis in Libya must be through the “reconciliation” between the rival militias. They stressed that “the best solution is not a military solution but a political solution.” The Tunisian Foreign Minister, At-Tayeb Al-Baccouche said in a press conference with his Italian counterpart Paulo Jentelauni, who was in a visit to Tunisia, “We agreed that the best solution is not a military solution but a political solution.” (France24.com, 25/2/2015)

In addition to this vicious attack of Europe against military intervention, Europe also sent signs that Libya is an important center of security for Europe, which suggests that it will be faster to intervene if America intervenes. Russia Today on 03/06/2015 reported the statement of Mogerena after arriving at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in the city of Riga, capital of Latvia today, saying “The major topic on the table of this meeting is the situation in Libya,” she confirmed that Libya’s security issue is of concern to the European Union as a whole and not just the southern states”… and of course it will spoil the result of the American intervention if it happens… for these two issues America reversed its position supporting a military solution, and then Egypt retreated from its draft resolution with Libya in front of the Security Council, which has already been introduced 18/2/2015, which includes international military intervention. Thus consultations have been ongoing in the Security Council since 27/03/2015 when the Security Council Resolution 2214 was issued and was devoid of text on the military intervention, but rather focused on the fight against terrorism to appease America, and at the same time confirmed negotiation to find a political solution, in appeasement to Europe. The terms of the resolution concerning these two matters include:

 “1. It condemns all acts of terrorism… and confirms in this regard following a comprehensive approach to combat these activities as a whole…

3. Member States urges that threats are addressed by all means and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the international law of the dangers that threaten the international peace, security caused by terrorist acts…
4. It recognizes the important roles carried out by both the African Union and the League of Arab States and the neighboring countries of Libya with respect to finding a peaceful solution to the crisis taking place in Libya…
5. It expresses its support for political dialogue led by the United Nations between the Government of Libya and all Libyan parties that renounce violence…”

This way it diverted the military intervention away for the above considerations, and the focus now is on the political negotiations.

Third, after deflecting attention from the military intervention in the Security Council Resolution, only the United States and Europe agreed on the resolution to work on a negotiated solution to find a political solution to the crisis, each in their own way! As for Europe, they want negotiations to produce a political solution as soon as possible because the political circle is predominantly with it. Any solution managed by the political circle will be in its favour. And America had agreed to negotiations because it could not find a gateway for military intervention, neither by it nor by the Egyptian regime, and because it lacks the political circle in Libya, this is why it is devising methods to disable, and then give respite to Haftar perhaps he will find authority even in a part of Libya to form a new political circle that will help him in any subsequent negotiations if he can not resolve the matter militarily, because Haftar does not carry a good relationship with many of the members of the House of Representatives in Tobruk, some of whom are coming from the old political circle…  Therefore, America wants to impede any results of the negotiations to be able to form a political center supporting it and effective, it is important for it to delay the negotiations as much as possible, even if negotiations are about to reach a solution. It spoils it with a military action by an air raid or that the delegation of Tobruk request an adjournment or a deadline… or the use of economic harassment as happened recently when the government of Tobruk requested from the National Oil Company not to transfer the oil revenues to the Central Bank (Egypt Al-Arabiya – New York Times, April 6, 2015). The newspaper said in a report published on its website that the decision is of dire consequences…and all these things negatively affect the continuation of the negotiations productively.

Europe is aware of this matter, that America is working to derail the negotiations, and therefore they chose a reliable envoy, Bernardino Leon, a European envoy in origin, he is different from the envoys of the United Nations in other cases where they are usually affiliated with America as envoys to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, like Bin Omar in Yemen. Bernardino Leon has proceeded to reach a political solution; his main concern was to accomplish his mission in the first period of his office, which was due to expire at the end of March 2015, before its extension under Security Council Resolution 2213, until September 15, 2015. Leon oversaw the intensive negotiations between the Libyan parties in Morocco, Algeria, and before them in Libya and Geneva to reach a solution to end the crisis of governance in Libya, and he was in a hurry to end it in the first period which began in Geneva and moved to Libya and then to Morocco, then Algeria and then returned to be held in Morocco. In Morocco, the negotiations session on Thursday, 12/03/2015 the Tobruk parliament members asked to postpone the resumption of political consultations between the Libyan parties for another week i.e. on Thursday, 19/03/2015 for further consultation. Mohammad Sharif, a member of the Parliament of Tobruk said, “We want time, a week at least and then the parties can return after these papers are studied.” He added, “The negotiations on the national government, security arrangements and the constitution committee have not been completed.” The President of the United Nations Mission Bernardino Leon met with members of the National Congress in Tripoli and some members of Tobruk Parliament who insisted on the postponement request mentioned. Leon agreed to postpone negotiations hosted by Morocco between the Libyan parties involved to Thursday, 19/3/2015 as a decisive period to achieve the Government of National Unity and get Libya out of its crisis.

Leon focused on the importance of a political solution as soon as possible, “stressing that the United Nations believes that the only solution in Libya is a political solution, and there is no military solution.” “Because Libya will not have much time, the situation is increasingly strained on the ground.” (Sawa American Radio 13/3/2015), also on 16/3/2015 a joint statement of the European Union was issued, it warns of the failure of the negotiations, it states, “The failure to reach a political agreement will put Libya’s security at risk. As soon as an agreement is reached on forming a government of national unity and related security arrangements, the European Union would be willing to strengthen its support for Libya ” (German news agency 16/3/2015). This shows the extent of Europe’s constant concern with the negotiations at a time when America and Haftar do not care about the negotiations as much as they care to make gains on the ground to be able to be a party in the negotiations and impose themselves strongly in them. This is why Haftar was at the time of the negotiations carrying on the military actions, told AFP 17/03/2015 two days before the proposed date for the resumption of negotiations, “the operations will end in the city of Benghazi before the middle of next month”. I.e. he is not interested in the current negotiations or reaching a solution or forming a government but he continues his military work… It is clear from this, as we said earlier that Europe is interested in the success of negotiations and warns of its failure, Haftar’s statements show America’s disinterest in the negotiations as if it does not concern it! This has been reflected on the progress of the negotiations, the date has been postponed, which was scheduled for talks in Morocco on 19/3/2015 to 20/3/2015 and so a meeting is called then postponed. On Thursday, 26/3/2015 Sky News Arabic published the following: “The parties in Libyan have concluded the third round of dialogue on Thursday evening in Sekheirat Moroccan tourist resort, to resume after ten days, according to the conformation of an official at the internationally recognized Tobruk Parliament”, and it is obvious after all the postponement and delay. However the meeting did not take place after those ten days! As a result, the European Union expressed concern, the Middle Gate site published on 10/04/2015 under the title:

“Europe Saves Leon” the following: “In a clear sign of seeking to breathe in life in Leon’s stalled task, the High Representative of European foreign policy, Federica Mogherini, said in a statement released by her office in Brussels on Friday, implying that she expects the resumption of Libyan dialogue within the coming days, but without setting any specific date… In a clear support for Leon, Mogherini has warned of those whom she described as: ‘who continue to work to sabotage Libyan negotiations’… the European Union fears that the advancement of the Libyan army in the west of the country may generate the equation of a new force on the ground making the European role in addressing the crisis ‘​​a useless role’”, and clearly from all this that Mogherini refers to America and Haftar and followers…

Thus, parties of different interests and objectives pull the current political negotiations.

Fourth: As for what is expected from these negotiations, it is nothing more than frolicking in the extra time, until the countries that move the ball on the field agree, near or from a distance, it does not matter to the countries how long is the match… as long as the blood is shed, and the befalling calamities are Muslims, and falls upon their heads. The Kaffir colonists do not observe a pact of kinship or protection of covenants with the believers and any Muslims’ issue lies in their own hands is dealt with by killing and lynching.

They are as The All-Powerful Almighty said,

هُمُ الْعَدُوُّ فَاحْذَرْهُمْ قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ

“They are the enemy, so beware of them. May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded?”

(Al-Munafiqun: 4)

Thus, the issue of Libya as long as it is in the hands of the Kaffir colonists and their supporters, the crisis will continue until one of the international players overcomes the other, i.e. America overcomes Europe, or one will outweigh the other and impose its opinion on the other, or to agree on a solution that America can guarantee a share equal to the share of Europe at least, Libya and its people will not get from the Kaffir oppressors anything from goodness.

The Muslim issues are to be resolved by the hands of the Muslims, not by the hands of their enemies, and the solution is easily possible for those whom Allah سبحانه وتعالى made it easy for. Its weapon is sincerity to Allah in secret and in public, and righteousness with the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم in word and deed, and then negotiators will see that they are in front of an ancient Islamic country since the Islamic conquest at the time of Khaleefah Omar Ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, and all of its people are Muslims, and the solution for its issues are in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, it has no connection with the Kaffir colonists,

وَلَنْ يَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ سَبِيلًا

“And never will Allah give the disbelievers over the believers a way [to overcome them]”

(An-Nisa’: 141)

The Ummah is full of aware intellectuals, pious and pure, so resort to them and not to the enemies of Allah سبحانه وتعالى:

وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ وَمَا لَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاءَ ثُمَّ لَا تُنْصَرُونَ

“And do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest you be touched by the Fire, and you would not have other than Allah any protectors; then you would not be helped”

(Hud: 113)

I conclude with what is mentioned in our previous question and answer: It is painful to see the Muslim countries that were the launching points of the conquests that spread Islam which carries the justice and goodness throughout the world, has become a battlefield that the Kaffir colonists compete to kill us and plunder our wealth and laugh heartily when every drop of blood shed from us, not in their hands, but also by the hands of their agents from us.

The Kaffir colonists are our enemies, therefore it is not surprising that they excel their efforts to kill us, but when the opposing parties of Libya line up and some of them befriend America, and some of them befriend Europe, then they fight among themselves, fighting not for Islam and upholding the word of Allah but for the interests of the Kaffir colonists… It is one of the major sins, the killing of Muslims among themselves is a major crime in Islam. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said,

»كُلُّ الْمُسْلِمِ عَلَى الْمُسْلِمِ حَرَامٌ، دَمُهُ، وَمَالُهُ، وَعِرْضُهُ»

 “It is prohibited for the Muslim to violate a Muslim over his blood, and his money, and his honour”,

narrated by Muslim from Abu Huraira, and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said,

»لَزَوَالُ الدُّنْيَا أَهْوَنُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ مِنْ قَتْلِ رَجُلٍ مُسْلِمٍ»

“The demise of the world is lesser to Allah than the killing of a Muslim man.”(Extracted by An-Nasa’I from Abdullah ibn Amr)

And the final conclusion, Libya is not devoid of a third party, honest and sincere, its main concern is to restore justice to Libya by ruling by Islam in the life, state, and society, and we hope that this team will cleanse Libya of all the Kaffir occupiers and every traitor agent… and Libya returns to its origin: the land of conquerors, and the country of the noble Quran… an Islamic fortress guarding Islam.

وَاللَّهُ غَالِبٌ عَلَى أَمْرِهِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

“And Allah is predominant over His affair, but most of the people do not know”

(Yusuf: 21)

22 Jumada II 1436 AH

11/4/2015 CE