Wednesday 14 June 2017

UN Security Council resolution 2357 helps but does not solve situation in Libya


Across the general Haftar, backed by Russia, Egypt and UAE. Amid an uncertain environment, where everyone is fighting for their interests but not for the political stability of Libya. Meanwhile, we are still looking for a replacement special UN envoy Martin Kobler on the Libyan issue is going around, but again nothing has changed. The future of Libya continues to worry UN, where two of the Security Council meeting in seven days and a resolution no. 2357 voted on Monday 12.6.2017 may not be enough to unravel the thread of a drawing which appears more and more tangled. Libya is still an unstable country with a weak government and a victim of a risiko that, if poorly played by the powers of the world, could set off an already teetering, where wrecks are on the agenda.

On the one hand Fayez al-Sarraj, who was appointed head of government under an agreement among some Libyan factions in December of 2015 and recognized by the international community, he continues to "control" Tripoli from the western part of the country. Across Khalifa Haftar, the general funded by Egypt and supported by Russia under his control is the eastern part of Libya and its base is in Tobruk. In the middle of a current of intertwined interests, which also stars some of those countries that on the morning of Monday12.6 voted unanimously the UN resolution. A document made possible by the mediation of the UK which aims to stabilize the situation in Libya through an arms embargo, after the recent violations with respect to a first resolution, passed by the Security Council months ago.
"The Mediterranean, especially along the coasts of Libya, is facing multiple challenges: trafficking in human beings and smuggling of weapons, as well as the smuggling of oil and other products. All this feeds the volatility of the situation in the country and can worsen the duration and complexity of the crisis in Libya - said in his explanation of vote Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation VincenzoAmendola, during the Security Council on Monday 12. The stabilization of Libya is the best way to address this issue: Italy is convinced that this strategy can work through the President's support Council (al-Sarraj, ed) and made possible by institutional structure Libyan Political Agreement (LPA)".
And it is Italy, in fact, at risk of having the strongest collateral damage from other people risiko. Since the end of 2015 that Italians executives are supporting the government of national unity headed by Libyan al-Sarraj, with the aim of ensuring stability in the whole region, a lost stability after the Arab Spring and the death of General Gaddafi. Italy is obviously considered one of the most important players on the Libyan issue, and it is no coincidence that to attend the vote on the resolution in 2357 there was the undersecretary Amendola, the only country in the Council of 15 to show up with a member of his government and not with UN ambassador. An important political signal, but insufficient to improve the situation.
Also because the support to al-Sarraj, today, is anything but unanimous. If Russia and Egypt have explicitly positioned on the side of General Haftar, the United States continue to stand by the window as a few months ago: Bilateral meeting April between the US president and the Italian prime minister Donald Trump Paolo Gentiloni, Trump had thrown the stone pretending to support Italy on the Libyan front, only to withdraw her hand and declare not to see "a US role in Libya: we are too engaged on other fronts. " And there's more. Because on the one hand the United Kingdom and France support the government so al-Sarraj (as evidenced by the words of the ambassadors on the 2357 resolution), but continue to support him in a less convinced Italy. While on the other hand, the Libyan situation has come to break the balance even in the Middle East. The UAE in fact, who have recently isolated by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, accusing him of supporting terrorist groups in Libya, are the focus of a recent report by the UNSC (United Nations Sanctions Committee). Nearly 300 pages "silent" in which UN Commission explains, AlJazeera.com as reported, that UAE are providing direct and indirect support to the Libyan National Army of which General Haftar is the head, and that allowed the alternative movement to Sarraj government to strengthen its presence in Libya.
Against the background of this battlefield where everyone is fighting without admitting it and where the instability in Libya seem to suit a lot more stability, the UN presents the challenge for peace showing weaker countries. Despite the resolution adopted on the embargo of arms, in fact, UN is still looking for a new special envoy to Libya: the mandate of Martin Kobler will expire by the end of June but is still obscure the identity of who will replace him. And despite Kobler highlights the need "not to compromise the basic principles that unite us and make us human,"the game in Libya continues to appear less and less human: with Egypt, Russia and UAE on the one hand, Italy with weak sheltered UN umbrella, the other and  USA in the middle, to make it even more uncertain a context of strange alliances and interwoven interests.

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