LIBYAN CAPITAL BREAKS OUT INTO VIOLENCE

Ever since U.S. President Barack Obama and his NATO allies launched the Libyan War in March 2011 to overthrow and murder its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, the once-thriving north Africa country has been socially and economically decimated.

Last Tuesday, chaos broke out in its capital Tuesday when a competing prime minister entered Tripoli, to challenge the UN-backed interim government leader who was forced to leave.

Al Jazeera reported that there were sounds of heavy weapons and automatic gunfire across the capital and schools were closed.

Fathi Bashagha, the parliament-appointed prime minister, told reporters that he left the city because he did not want more bloodshed, while his critics say he did not get the support from militias that he was counting on. He said he will base his opposition government in the city of Sirte after his departure from the city. 

Al Jazeera pointed out that Libya had two governments since March and that regional powers are conducting a proxy war for more power in the oil-rich country.

TRENDPOST: Libya is a former prosperous northern African country that was thrown into chaos due to former President Barack Obama’s effort to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi 2011. (See “LIBYA: NATO POWERS GET OUT THEIR CARVING KNIVES,” “LIBYA’S OIL OUTPUT CUT IN HALF BY POLITICAL PROTESTS” and “LIBYA: DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.”) 

TRENDPOST: Never in the media is there a word of the deadly war launched by America’s President and Nobel Peace Prize champion, Barack Obama back in 2011 and NATO joining in the massacre of its leader, Muammar Gaddafi… and the mass destruction of oil-rich Libya which was the richest nation of Africa.

Ned Price, the spokesman for the State Department, told reporters that the U.S. was concerned about the spike in violence in Libya and called for both sides to “recognize that trying to seize or retain power through force will only hurt the people of Libya.”

Unrest in Libya

The country has faced unrest after it failed to hold elections late last year.

The report pointed out that Bashagha has attempted to overthrow the government three times in the past three months. 

Yousef Bakhbakhi, a Tripoli-based academic and political commentator, said these attempts are based on an upcoming meeting in Cairo that will include UN envoy Stephanie Williams and representatives of the eastern-based House of Representatives, and the Tripoli-based High Council of State. 

The UN recognizes Abdel Hamid Dbeibeh, the prime minister of the Libyan Government of National Unity, as the country’s legitimate interim leader. The UN is holding meetings in Cairo in hopes of finding some kind of solution and holding parliamentary and presidential elections in Libya “as soon as possible,” The Middle East Monitor reported.

Bakhbakhi told Al Jazeera that Bashagha’s hope is to reach some sort of agreement on a new constitutional framework “and timeline for elections that will inevitably dissolve both” current institutions.

“Bashagha fears a real possibility that he could be sidelined in any agreement and is, therefore, eager to impose a de facto reality that scuppers the UN’s effort to create a new legitimacy and hold elections that would effectively end the legitimacy of the current House of Representatives [that appointed him] and the High Council of State.”

Bashagha’s representatives said he left Tripoli to prevent civilian casualties during the clashes, but his critics say he did not get his desired support from militias during the clashes.

TREND FORECAST: Considering the numerous nations and political factions fighting to control Libya and exploit its bountiful natural resources, we forecast there will be no lasting peace in the country.

Further, despite the drastic cut-back in Libyan oil production, Brent Crude, at around $54 per barrel, is down some 16 percent this year. And, it should be noted that prices have been falling before the fear of the Coronavirus impact on the global economy, which we forecast will be minimal.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: When the mainstream media reports on Libya, the deplorable conditions its citizens are now living in—the violence, corruption, destruction of infrastructure, and ongoing mass murder and mayhem—they avoid mentioning that when Libya was under Colonel Qaddafi’s rule, the Libyan people enjoyed the highest living standard in Africa and received more benefits from the state than many advanced societies.

Additionally, the media avoids mentioning that former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and former Presidents Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy of France—with the insistence of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice; and Samantha Power, Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights on the National Security Council—were the murderous maniacs responsible for death and the destruction of Libya… and for its current crisis.