The international community has finally come around to helping the unity government in Libya, albeit reluctantly and insufficiently. At a summit in Vienna on Monday, the world powers agreed to do more to prop up the UN-recognised government in Tripoli led by Fayez Sarraj which faces collapse in the absence of immediate help. The summit agreed to supply some arms to the new government and to train a 2,000-strong presidential guard. Unlike in Syria, where an ongoing conflict which has destroyed the country is being ignored by the international community despite fervent pleas for help by the Syrian opposition, the Libyan situation has elicited Western interest and concern due to its proximity to Europe. Chaos and instability in Libya have an immediate and direct impact on Europe, and there are two threats that require urgent solution. First, the Islamic State is spreading in Libya, threatening the security of Europe and the world, and second, there is an upsurge of people smuggling from the Libyan coastline to the Mediterranean. Strengthening the unity government in Libya is the only viable solution to these threats. The inevitability of this action has dawned on Europe now though it could have averted the current chaos in Libya through timely action after Muammar Gaddafi was toppled.
Libya has never stabilised after the overthrow of Gaddafi in 2011 because rival militias took up arms for control. The government in Tripoli was weakened by an uprising in Benghazi and the rise of militias in other areas, and the Islamic State used the vacuum to build and expand its presence. Part of the blame for the current state of affairs goes to Nato because it failed to facilitate the transition to a new government in Libya after helping to topple Gaddafi through its air campaigns.
Now there is a dire need to make the unity government in Tripoli work. A failure would result in a permanent division of the country. The political battle between the UN-recognised Tripoli government and the Tobruk-based parliament loyal to General Khalifa Haftar in the east is threatening economic chaos if the rival government carries out its threat to flood the country with billions of dollars worth of its own currency. Two central banks launching two conflicting currencies, which are not interchangeable in banks, will worsen inflation and destabilise the economy.
Nato still remains divided on the nature of help to Libya. Libyans also will not like a direct military intervention by its forces. But it must work closely with the unity government in Tripoli and give the latter every help to make its writ run across the country.
The international community has finally come around to helping the unity government in Libya, albeit reluctantly and insufficiently. At a summit in Vienna on Monday, the world powers agreed to do more to prop up the UN-recognised government in Tripoli led by Fayez Sarraj which faces collapse in the absence of immediate help. The summit agreed to supply some arms to the new government and to train a 2,000-strong presidential guard. Unlike in Syria, where an ongoing conflict which has destroyed the country is being ignored by the international community despite fervent pleas for help by the Syrian opposition, the Libyan situation has elicited Western interest and concern due to its proximity to Europe. Chaos and instability in Libya have an immediate and direct impact on Europe, and there are two threats that require urgent solution. First, the Islamic State is spreading in Libya, threatening the security of Europe and the world, and second, there is an upsurge of people smuggling from the Libyan coastline to the Mediterranean. Strengthening the unity government in Libya is the only viable solution to these threats. The inevitability of this action has dawned on Europe now though it could have averted the current chaos in Libya through timely action after Muammar Gaddafi was toppled.
Libya has never stabilised after the overthrow of Gaddafi in 2011 because rival militias took up arms for control. The government in Tripoli was weakened by an uprising in Benghazi and the rise of militias in other areas, and the Islamic State used the vacuum to build and expand its presence. Part of the blame for the current state of affairs goes to Nato because it failed to facilitate the transition to a new government in Libya after helping to topple Gaddafi through its air campaigns.
Now there is a dire need to make the unity government in Tripoli work. A failure would result in a permanent division of the country. The political battle between the UN-recognised Tripoli government and the Tobruk-based parliament loyal to General Khalifa Haftar in the east is threatening economic chaos if the rival government carries out its threat to flood the country with billions of dollars worth of its own currency. Two central banks launching two conflicting currencies, which are not interchangeable in banks, will worsen inflation and destabilise the economy.
Nato still remains divided on the nature of help to Libya. Libyans also will not like a direct military intervention by its forces. But it must work closely with the unity government in Tripoli and give the latter every help to make its writ run across the country.
