SPEECHES, INTERVIEWS, ARTICLES

13.08.2014

Libya: time to unite international efforts (by Ambassador Yakovenko, for Russia Today)

We are seriously concerned with the drastically degrading situation in Libya. At the moment this country is becoming a failed state, breaking into small domains ruled by warlords with rather murky reputation. This situation was created because of complex political, military and social reasons. It is evident that we are dealing not with some short term crisis but a long term tendency that was started by the events of 2011.

This is the outcome of some states actions. Having put forward a task of regime change they did not think about possible consequences for Libya or for the region as a whole. “Libya scenario” did not end with military action in Libyan skies, when NATO countries distorted the decisions of the UN Security Council and supported one of sides in Libyan internal military conflict. That scenario also includes everything that happened in the country after that.

“Normal nation building” has failed. Relatively safe country in the close proximity of Europe has become playground for radical islamists and terrorists. There is no moving forward in the national dialogue. There are no law enforcement agencies. All the government agencies that matter are paralyzed. There are more human rights violations now than in Colonel Gaddafi times. Civilians are killed every day, infrastructure is being destroyed, not even a resemblance of order exists, economic development is absolutely out of the question. Latest parliamentary elections did not help to stabilize the situation. The situation in Tripoli has deteriorated so much that the first session of the new parliament had to be held far from the capital of the country.

It appears that the situation will deteriorate even further. Weapons traffic is already posing a serious threat to the region, boosting extremists and complicating the task of countering the growing influence of terrorist groups.

In this context there is a growing need to work out necessary measures. Unfortunately to this day efficiency of steps taken by international community to help Libya remains very low. Therefore we should understand that intrusive radical decisions, imposed from outside, without paying attention to local conditions will only lead to more chaos. Same goes for simple but wrong black or white presentation of the situation.

Efficiency of international assistance depends on the objectivity of UN Secretariat’s reports. Same criteria should be applied to all the UN Security Council decision making.

Today the world is following closely the developments in Gaza and Iraq but the international community still needs to urgently consolidate numerous efforts to help Libya, including important decisions on further activities of the UN Mission in Libya.

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