This is an excerpt from an essay I have wrote for one of my classes. I shall put up the whole essay in a month or so, but this is the most important part of the essay. This expert examines the peace operations in Libya. .. If anything does not make sense, you are probably lacking context so read the full essay when it's up :p .
Libya is an interesting case because it is often hailed as a successful peace operation in the media. As you will see below, I agree with this point even though there are still a lot of uncertainties when it comes to Libya's case. P.S. I'll fix the footnotes in a week or so :P And sorry... this is going to be very dry, but in my defense it's an excerpt from an essay and its very hard to make academic writing fun :P .
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| Image taken from UNSMIL website |
The Case of Libya
Peacebuilding
National Transitional Council has been established
and recognized as legitimate government by 30 countries even before the end of
the war. Following
the declaration of liberation in October 2011, NTC organized a national
election of General National Congress on July 7th, 2012. In October
2012, the GNC elected Ali Zeidan who became the country’s Prime Minister in
charge of creating transition coalition government.[1]
He chose his government representatives from two
biggest blocs in the Congress the Alliance of National Forces, led and the
Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party. [2]
In addition, the GNC will create “constitutional assembly to draft
a new constitution which will be submitted to a referendum in 2013.”[3]
Although there have been protests
about the make-up of the cabinet, they should be viewed as an acceptable form
of voicing ones discontent with political or social issues. The reconstruction
of the Libyan political system has been largely positive. Indeed, it met three of
the aforementioned requirements of the peacebuilding process: transitional
government, elections and elected government. Moreover, there is a lot of
internal political support in favour of current political change. For example,
the Benghazi part of the February 17th Coalition, which was part of
revolution from the first protest, has decided to dissolve because of “their
desire to submit to a single legitimate authority which the NTC represented”.[4]
The Coalition refuses to take position of “revolutionary command council”,
because they believe that “resort to ‘revolutionary legitimacy’ [might threaten]
stability and democratic transformation.”[5]
In addition, the Libyan Brotherhood has expressed their support for civil
state, democracy or ‘moderate’ Islamic state and civil society. [6]
Even the some of the radicals are supporting the regime change. The leader of
the Libyan Fighting Group, Bilhaj, has expressed “on numerous political occasions
and media appearances his commitment to the establishment of a democratic state,
he has recently announced the establishment of the Islamic Movement for Change”
that has publicly defended the national political agenda.[7]
However, it should be noted that security
sector reform component of peacebuilding is still incomplete. The NTC had
issues imposing its political will because it lacks legitimacy, and therefore
it is unable to back its will by force.[8]
This will likely change with the newly elected government, but it is too early to
say so definitively. Similarly, institutional reform in army, police and judicial sectors in order to
achieve “a functioning law enforcement apparatus” has not been yet been
achieved for the same reason.
The key issue in security sector is the militias. The local councils that are in
charge of administrating cities have military components to them but they do
not have full control of those components.[9]
Thus
militias are controlling the streets, while not under the control of the
government. Indeed, militias never combined into one united force during, or
after the conflict, and are now ruling over their own sections of territory
thus undermining the authority of the elected government.[10]
In addition,
the previously mentioned Islamic Movement for Change “has been busy arming
itself and forming loyal armed brigades”, while giving a supporting political
rhetoric in favour of the regime.[11] Indeed, the security sector
disorder has manifested itself in the attack on the US embassy in September,
with a result of 4 deaths - one of which was the US ambassador. However, there
is hope that with time the elected government will acquire more power and will
be able to get the security sector under its control. Indeed, the Libyan people
are tired of fighting and want security, which has been demonstrated by the
revolt against militias in response to attacks on US embassy.[12] This has given the
government the opportunity to “take more concentrated action to consolidate
military forces under its command.”[13] One of the ways suggested
of reintegrating militias into society is with “a combination of financial rewards, promise
of adequate social standing, and above all, assurances that laying down their
arms will not jeopardize their safety or that of their community.”[14]
However, this can only be done by the elected legitimate government. Indeed,
even though there is also still a lot of peacebuilding to be
done in economic
development, social rehabilitation and regulatory reform, it should be done by
the elected government rather than outside forces or foreign diplomats. Otherwise,
the process will not to be deemed legitimate and acceptable by the local
people.
Currently, UN peacebuilding
mission is headed by UN Support Mission in Libya that was created in order to “assist the Libyan authorities to define national
needs and priorities throughout Libya, and to match these with offers of
strategic and technical advice where appropriate.”[15] It is meant to provide support in the following
areas: democratic transition, Rule of Law & Human Right, Security Sector
Reform, International Assistance Coordination and countering of illicit proliferation of arms. If UNSMIL follows its
mandate closely, then it will be a positive force in Libya. However, it must be
careful not to highjack the transition and state-building process from the
Libyan people and government in order to install the Western values. If the
Libyan people believe that changes in their political system are coming from
outside, then they will be less likely to trust it and more likely to rebel
against it.
[1] World Bank, Libya Overview, Sep. 2012, 10 Dec.2012 <http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/libya/overview>.
[2] BBC News, Libyan Parliament Approves New Government, 13 Oct.2012, 10 Dec.2012
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20152538>.
[3] World Bank, Libya Overview, Sep. 2012, 10 Dec.2012, <http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/libya/overview>.
[4] Ibid. 17.
[5] Ibid. 17.
[6] Ibid. 17.
[7] Ibid. 19.
[8] Youssef Mohammad Sawani, “Post-Qadhafi Libya: Interactive Dynamics and the Political Future,” Contemporary Arab Affairs, 5:1 (2012): 9.
[9] Ibid. 16.
[10] Christopher
S. Chivvis, Keith Crane, Peter Mandaville, Jeffrey Martini, “Libya’s Post-
Qaddafi Transition: The Nation-Building Challenge,” RAND Corporation
(2012): 4.
[11] Ibid. 19.
[12] Ibid. 3.
[13] Ibid. 5.
[14] Ibid. 6.
[15] UNSMIL, UNSMIL Mandate, 10 Dec.2012
<http://unsmil.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3544&language=en-US>.
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