Warnings of Civil War, 'Critical Plight of Civilians' in Libya

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/08/29/warnings-civil-war-critical-plight-civilians-libya



Vying militias, governing bodies fight for control in country whose destabilization, critics charge, was worsened by NATO intervention

Warnings of Civil War, 'Critical Plight of Civilians' in Libya
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Friday, August 29, 2014

As instability continues to grip Libya, officials are sounding alarm over the deteriorating situation that could lead towards civil war in the country, where destabilization, critics charge, has deepened since NATO's bombing in 2011.

"The situation in Libya is complicated," Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's United Nations Ambassador, told the UN Security Council Wednesday. "Yet the situation since the 13th of July has become even more complicated and the situation might unravel into a full-blown civil war if we're not very careful and wise in our actions."

On July 13, as Reuters reports,

heavy fighting broke out between rival militias vying for control of Libya's main airport, killing at least seven people and forcing a halt of all flights in the worst fighting in the capital for six months.

Yet, as author and professor of international studies at Trinity College Vijay Prashad told Democracy Now! Monday, "This violence has been ongoing since 2011," when the U.S. backed a campaign to oust Muammar Gaddafi. He continued:

There was an attempt—brief attempt—by NATO to try to create a unified command, but they basically gave that up. They bombed the country and opened the door for the different militias to now compete against each other. So the day Gaddafi was killed, from then onwards, the militias have basically been at each other’s throats.