Frontline – August 02, 2019

Khalifa Haftar bombeda garage rightnextto the deten-

tioncentrein Tajoura.Haftar’s Libyan NationalArmy,

oneamongstmanymilitiagroups,saidthe garagewasa

weaponsdepotbutdeniedthe bombing.It saidthe air-

craftbelongedto the Governmentof National Accord,a

UnitedNations-backedgovernmentthathasstumbled

alongsince2015.Theaerialbombingkilledat least 60

peoplein the detentioncentre.Overa thousandpeople

havebeenkilledas a resultof Haftar’sbidto seizethe

capital, Tripoli, whichbeganin April.

Immediatelyafterthebombing,GhassanSalame,

headof theU.N.Support Missionin LibyaandSpecial

Representativeof theU.N.Secretary-General, saidan

inquirywould be conducted intowhatcould“clearly

constitutea warcrime”.Salame,a Lebanese academic,

cameto Libyain 2017afterworkingfor the

U.N.in Iraq.He is a cautious person,so his

wordsneedto be takenveryseriously. His

useof the phrase “warcrime”is notrhetor-

ical.He meansit. Butthe realquestionhere

is, whoperpetuatedthe warcrime?

GENERAL HAFTAR’SWAR

Libyahasbeenin deeptroublesince 2011

whenan internalcivilconflict wasconverted

by theU.N.andtheNorthAtlanticTreaty

Organisation (NATO)intoan international

war.NATO’sbombers came on the sideof a

rebelarmythatcomprised a rangeof actors,

fromformerAl Qaedafightersto liberal

lawyers.

MassiveNATO bombardment hastenedthe fall of the

Libyan government, whoseleaderswereeitherkilled

(includingMuammar Qaddafi) or wentintoexile.No

unified rebelcommandwasformedsincetherangeof

militia groupsconductedtheground warunderneath

Europeanplanes.Each of thesegroupswasbackedby an

external forcesuchas Egypt,France,SaudiArabia, Tur-

key,theUnitedArabEmirates (UAE)andtheUnited

States.AfterQaddafiwas killed, the rebelfactionsturned

on eachother.

Thespoilsin Libyaaregreat:a massiveoil reserve

thatis closeto Europe.But,overthe pasteightyears,no

power hasbeenableto establishitself. Severalfactions

claimed to be the legitimategovernment;gunfire wasthe

mode of conversation. Thecountrywasfloodedby arms;

thewarhasbeenunendingandthepolitical willfrac-

tured. Eventhe U.N.seemedto slipintothe factionalism:

a formerU.N.envoynamedBernardino Leon hadto be

removedfor takingmoneyfromthe UAE.

Gen.Haftar, whohadbeencloseto the U.S.Central

Intelligence Agencyfromthe 1980suntilhis

re-appearancein Benghazi,Libya,in 2011,

hastilydrewuponhis old linksin the milit-

ary.Whenit becameclearthathe wasnot

going to be anointed as the nextstrongman

of Libya,Haftarbuiltup his armywiththe

helpof Egypt,SaudiArabiaandtheUAE.

Haftar destroyedthe other militiagroupsin

Benghazi, includingtheAl Qaedavariants,

andthenbeganto makehis moveagainstthe

U.N.-backedgovernment in Tripoli.

Earlythisyear,Haftarsecuredmostof

the oilfields andterminalsin the eastern and

southern partsof Libya.Hisforcesthen

begantheirmarchtowardsTripoli.Some

20,000peopleweredisplacedin theearly

GEN. KHALIFA

HAFTAR,in 2018.

ABDUL

LAH

DOMA/AFP

FIGHTERSloyalto Libya’s Governmentof National

Accordopenfire in the al-Sawaniarea south of Tripoli

during clashesagainst forcesloyal to Gen. KhalifaHaftar,

on June13.

MAHMU

D TURKIA/AFP