New Internationalist – September 2019

(C. Jardin) #1
In the News

INTRODUCING


KHALIFA HAFTAR


While far from new to the
scene in Libya, this renegade
warlord has now moved
centre stage – a position
that he has been seeking
for many years. Haftar is
behind the assault against the
UN-recognized Government

been used for the first time
in a major Ebola epidemic.
Over 170,000 people have
been injected to create ‘rings’
around patients to stop the
virus’s spread. The vaccine
is free, for now, as it has
not yet been approved for
commercialization.
But supplies of V920 are
running low. And plans to
use a second, less tried-and-
tested vaccine were opposed
by the Health Minister, Oly
Ilunga. However, following
the PHEIC announcement,
Congo’s President delegated
the co-ordination of the Ebola
response to a group of experts,
leading Ilunga to quit his
position in protest.
Leading the group is
Professor Jean-Jacques
Muyembe. Muyembe is well
respected with a long track-
record, having been involved
in the very first known
epidemic in the DRC (then
Zaïre) in 1976. In late July,
he said that he’d put an end
to the outbreak in ‘three to
four months’. Let’s hope he is
correct.
EMMANUEL FREUDENTHAL

of National Accord in the
capital Tripoli, which he is
attacking with support from
his powerbase in Benghazi,
eastern Libya.
Since the conflict waged
by Haftar’s militia (the
self-styled Libyan National
Army, or LNA) began in
early April 2019, more than
1,000 war-weary Libyans
have died. It has come to be
known as the Second Libyan
Civil War. Some of the most
recent casualties were refugees
and migrants (60 dead, 130
injured) housed in the Tajoura
detention centre in a Tripoli
suburb, which was hit by an
LNA airstrike.
Haftar, now 75, is a larger-
than-life character. He has
fought with and against
almost every significant
faction since the stormy
decades of Muammar Qadafi’s
dictatorship gave way to the
turmoil that followed his
downfall in 2011. He served
under Qadafi – indeed, was
part of the coup that brought
him to power in 1969 – but
fell out with the meteoric
strongman in 1987 after he
was captured on a military
mission in Chad. The former
general then became a CIA
‘asset’; he settled near the
CIA headquarters in Langley,
Virginia, and even took up
US citizenship. But after two
decades he succumbed to
the joys of warlording again,
rising to be a senior figure
in the military forces that
overthrew Qadafi in 2011. He
has not looked back since.
Haftar is the ultimate
political chameleon. He has a
reputation of ruling with an
iron fist and has been linked
to the extrajudicial execution
of opponents and prisoners of
war. He also portrays himself
as a democrat and bulwark
against Islamist violence
while, at the same time,
maintaining staunch Salafist
allies and support from
fundamentalist Wahhabis
in the Gulf. The only central

SERIOUSLY?


Without a paddle

An aquamarine expanse
of water, as brilliantly blue
as the sky. There are green
trees, sandy banks.
This idyll in Novosibirsk,
Siberia, has become a
popular spot for Instagram-
mers. Images of just-
married couples, women
sporting bikinis and people
riding inflatables on the
water can be found on the
social media platform.
There’s just one
problem: the reason the
lake is so invitingly blue is
because it’s no natural lake.
It’s a toxic dump for the
local coal-fired power plant.
The Siberian Generating
Company was forced to
make a statement to stop
the social-media-hungry
crowds: people ‘cannot
swim in the ash dump’
because of the ‘calcium
salts and other metal oxides
dissolved in it’. They also
note that the bottom is so
muddy that getting out
alone is ‘almost impossible’.
The story made headlines
across the world.
Forget ‘rearranging the
deck chairs on the Titanic’


  • so 20th-century. ‘Taking
    selfies in a poisoned lake’ is
    a worthy successor to sum
    up the follies of our age.


commonality in all his
shifting political loyalties is
a consistent desire to solidify
and expand his own power.
Haftar’s relationship with
the US remains murky.
He seems a good fit with
the US preference for not-
so-enlightened military
dictatorships to curtail the
democratic ‘excesses’ of the
Arab Spring; the stern General
el-Sisi in Cairo (a staunch
Haftar supporter) seems to
be their ideal model. While
there are undoubtedly still
enthusiasts in Langley rooting
for Haftar – who claims
President Trump’s National
Security Adviser John Bolton
(see page 72) encouraged his
assault on Tripoli as long
as he did it ‘quickly’, and
who Trump himself has
called to discuss ongoing
‘counterterrorism efforts’


  • cooler heads at the State
    Department seem nervous
    about betting all their chips on
    the ambitious warlord.
    If his US support looks
    shaky, support from Saudi
    Arabia, the United Arab
    Emirates (UAE) and Egypt
    seems rock solid. In an
    embarrassing development,
    a clutch of UAE, US-made
    missiles were captured from
    Haftar’s militia and displayed
    by the Tripoli government.
    There was the usual avalanche
    of denials. While there have
    been rumours of ill health and
    the occasional assassination
    attempt, Haftar remains a
    player. And even if his luck
    eventually runs out, he has
    two sons positioned as ‘officers’
    in the LNA, poised to take
    over.
    RICHARD SWIFT


SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019 9

ILL


US


TR


AT


IO


NS


:^ E


MM


A^ P


EE


R

Free download pdf