Update on the Libyan Political Scene

Answer: 1. It is well known that Libya is a deeply-rooted Islamic country since the Islamic conquest of the reign of the rightly guided Khalifah Omar ibn al-Khattab (ra), and all of its people are Muslims, and it remained blessed under the Khilafah and the rule of Islam with security, safety, prosperity and stability lasting 13 centuries, until the arrival of the Italian colonialists in 1912, and extended their influence over it, they met a resistance from its people the Muslim Mujahideen. After the defeat of Italy during World War II, Britain seized control of it, and set up a system of monarchy at the end of 1951 when it granted it its formal independence. And when Britain’s influence in Libya was threatened by America via Abdel Nasser in Egypt, it instructed its agent Gaddafi and his group of officers to carry out a coup in 1969, hiding behind the curtain of the Nasserites in an attempt to deceive the people and to be protected from the American domination over the system loyal to Britain in Libya, this is how the British maintained their influence in Libya.

2. America has tried for several decades to gain influence in Libya but did not succeed, because Gaddafi was loyal to Britain and keen on continuing its influence in Libya. Britain had recognized him since he was a student at Sandhurst; and then supported and protected him for several decades, and he continued to preserve its interests in Africa…

Thus, up until the uprising in Libya in 2011 the United States did not have any influence in Libya and Gaddafi remained a loyal agent to Britain. With the advent of the Arab Spring and the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, the uprising spread quickly across the border into Libya. Sensing the near end of Gaddafi, because the Ummah wanted to bring the change, Britain decided abandon him and the preparation of a replacement… Britain and France worked to find the new political leadership and established the National Transitional Council (NTC) in the month of February 2011. On 5/3/2011, the Minister of Justice, who defected from the Gaddafi regime, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, was chosen as the chairman of the council, as was succeeded by Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril and then Abdul Rahim Al Keeb… The council continued until the formation of the National Congress in July 2012 and received the official tasks of the National Council on 08/08/2012. Ali Zeidan was then elected as the prime minister until he was sacked by the conference, which is headed by Nuri Abu Sahmain, and the Conference commissioned Abdullah Ath-Thani as interim head of the ministry then terminated him and elected Meitik, they did not resolve the matter officially between Ath-Thani and Meitik to date… the Libyan rebels and the armed factions that have spread across the country have an impact on these councils, conferences, and governments; so one Council is dissolved and another Council succeeds, and a government is toppled and is succeeded by another.

The formation of the National Congress for the drafting of a constitution and preparing for general elections within 18 months, and if this is counted after the receipt of the Council of its tasks on 08/08/2012; it means that the term of the conference is supposed to end on 07/02/2014, but it has extended it to stay until 24/12/2014, people were split over this, between those who agree to the extension and those who oppose it… An interim government was formed to run the affairs. In conclusion, the Election Commission has decided to hold general elections in 25/06/2014 to find legitimacy to the new situation: the presidency, the parliament, and the government

3.The United States recognizes that the political circle in Libya is a British manufacture with some French presence that strengthen the political circle loyal to Britain in Libya, which means that any future elections will see the rise of the men of Europe with a few “independents”. Then the situation will stabilize and end the ambitions of America, that they wanted to exploit its actual military influence during the end of Gaddafi’s rule, to get the largest share of the influence, and this is not possible through holding elections in this atmosphere, which is still the European atmosphere. It thought of shuffling the papers militarily and rearranging the atmosphere in Libya to create a new political class loyal to America and then hold elections. The first step was to assign a military man to take a move similar to a coup against the status quo, which is dominated by the National Congress, where the majority of the men belong to Europe… in order to shuffle the cards and for the postponement of the elections to better the conditions for America only to dominate the arena, if not then it can be in partnership with Europe, and will not let Europe dominate the arena entirely. Thus, Haftar steps in, with a profile that pronounces his loyalty to America… After he was let down by Gaddafi in Chad war and was forsaken, Haftar and about 300 Libyan soldiers were taken hostages in March 1987, then American brokered with Chad, and negotiated with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 1990 for his release. Haftar was taken to Zaire on a U.S. aircraft, and then to America and was granted a political asylum in the United States, where he joined the Libyan opposition movement abroad. So he spent the following 20 years in the state of Virginia, USA, where he was trained in guerrilla warfare by the CIA, and did not return to Libya, until after the revolution of February 17 (February 2011) in which he played a role, especially in the city of Benghazi. At the end of 2011, the new military rulers in Libya agreed and chose Haftar as the new head of the National Army staff, which was created to replace the former regime’s army; and after criticism from many opponents who have expressed clear doubts about his participation because of his history in Chad and his contacts with the Americans… After these criticisms he was removed from the army, his post of presidency was given to the former Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younus al-Obeidi.

4. On 14/02/2014, Haftar moved to declare the control of his forces to military and vital sites in Libya. He announced in a statement the freezing of the National Congress (parliament) and the government, and launched what he called a road map for the political future of Libya. He stated, “What we have done is not a coup and do not seek to rule the military, but it is in line with the demands of the street that came out demanding the departure of the General Conference.” And so this was the first attempt by Haftar to pressure the government in Libya to achieve his political ends, as has been drawn in the road map to seize power or overthrow the current government in Libya. Haftar resumed his advancement and launched an attack on 16/05/2014, armed groups described as terrorists in Benghazi that he described as a military operation dubbed Dignity of Libya. And then he moved the operation to the capital Tripoli. He introduced himself as the commander of the national army and the saviour of Libya from terrorist groups. His forces stormed on 17/05/2014 the Parliament and took control of the surroundings for a short period and then pulled out. Mohammed Hijazi, the spokesperson for the National Army loyal to Haftar, told Reuters that “the perpetrators of the attack are affiliated to the National Army, who are waging an offensive on what he described as terrorist groups.” The approaching date for new elections is 25 June 2014, and Libya is in further turmoil because Khalifa Haftar and his forces attacked the capital Tripoli and the parliament. A week before he launched the operation against the base of the Martyrs Brigade on February 17th in Benghazi. This is a brigade loyal to the government and one of the largest and best armed groups in Libya. Then the leaders of Libyan air base in the eastern Tobruk announced their support for Haftar on May 19, immediately after that a group of army defectors and national police personalities declared they are joining him. As a result, some of the forces Haftar was able to take advantage of some of the country’s air force, using planes and helicopters in attempting to build a presence in Benghazi. Also presently, some armed groups in Zintan allied with Haftar; thus developed strength to some extent.

Haftar wanted to mimic what happened in Egypt in terms of the focus on the fight against the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorism. On 20/05/2014, the Middle East Newspaper published the interview with him that referred to how he is personally influenced by the way America followed in Egypt, saying “we are influenced by what is happening in Egypt,” and said that he had taken a mandate from the people along the lines of what Sisi did in Egypt. Colonel Mohammed Hijazi, the official spokesperson for the retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, saying “Haftar will follow in the footsteps of Sisi, if the Libyan people asked him to run in the elections, especially that Sisi succeeded in similar difficult task, which is the restoration of Egypt from the Muslim Brotherhood.” (Anatolia Agency 30/5/2014).

5. The Libyan General National Conference rushed and held a meeting on Sunday, 25/5/2014 CE, despite Khalifa Haftar’s threats. The Parliament voted to give confidence to the new government of Prime Minister Ahmed Meitik; his government has won the confidence of the National Congress with a majority of 83 votes out of 94 representatives who attended the session. There was a clear insistence on holding the meeting, the presidency of the conference, had urged the House of Representatives, in a short message, to participate in the meeting, noting that it might “be the last one.” The session was delayed which was supposed to take place at 11:00 (09:00 GMT) to the evening, due to lack of quorum. The other evidence of their insistence to meet is that the House of Representatives met in Tripoli’s Crown Palace (palace from the royal period), because the building of the conference was closed after it was attacked by militants loyal to Haftar. One of the Tripoli battalions became responsible for guarding the palace.

However, Haftar declared his opposition to the inauguration of the new prime minister calling for a postponement of the elections, he said, “The new prime minister will not be able to stabilize the country and called for the postponement of the parliamentary elections scheduled in June.” (AFP 26/5/2014). Haftar has called the Supreme Judicial Council in 21/05/2014 as the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to commission “a higher council for the head of state which will be civil and should be assigned duties of an emergency government and oversee the upcoming parliamentary elections, and the Presidential Council will hand over power to the elected parliament.” He also said, “The army has taken these decisions after the rejection of the General National Congress (parliament) to stop its activities as demanded by the people.” He said, “The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces will take over security during the transitional phase and beyond.” (AFP 22/05/2014) The Supreme Judicial Council responded to his terms and announced on 26/5/2014, “The creation of the social committee in order to achieve reconciliation between all parties consist of the President of the Constituent for the drafting of the Constitution, the president of the Association of Scientists, the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chairman of the Audit Committee of Legislation, chairman of the National Transitional Council, the President of the Council of Elders, the Shura Council, Chairman of the February Committee and that the tasks of this committee is to contact all parties.” (Aljazeera 26/05/2014). “The President of this Council did not explain whether the initiative to establish the Committee is a rejection to Haftar recent initiative when he was asked by Aljazeera.” But it shows that the Supreme Judicial Council has not responded to Haftar’s invitation and did not announce its rejection directly, but instead it announced the formation of a committee to achieve reconciliation between the parties, which means that Haftar did not get the support of the judiciary.

6. The U.S. position clearly shows that it is the one behind Haftar’s actions, and America is the engine that drives him… In addition to Haftar’s profile since he was released by America from the prisons of Chad, and his fostering in the arms of America for twenty years living in the state of Virginia, even though there are other evidences that expose:

a. U.S. officials’ statements which indicate this implicitly and explicitly including:

– During these events, and during the period between the start of Haftar military actions in 14/02/2014, and his continuations of those actions, America sent Deputy U.S. Secretary of State William Burns to Libya on 16/5/2014, who said during his visit, “The growing extremism with formidable violence is a great challenge for Libya in the first place and also to the international partners.” He added, “The rebuilding of security is vital to the success of Libya and he promised to increase U.S. aid in the face of violence by extremists.” He said, “The United States will continue with other partners to train the army and security forces.” (Reuters 24/4/2014) i.e. it will use any means to combat extremism and terrorism to tighten its control over Libya. This is why its agent Khalifa Haftar used this card given to him by the Americans.

– America did not deny its contact with Haftar. On 20/05/2014, Jennifer Psaki, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, said in a press conference, “We did not have contact with Khalifa Haftar recently, for more than three weeks, we do not condemn nor support the movement in Libya on the ground…” And she rejected to describe Haftar’s military operation as a coup when she was asked about it, she also pointed out to “the return of former Ambassador David Satterfield from Libya recently and that her country is watching the events in Libyan closely in the last two days…”. They did not deny contacting him but denied that it took place recently, which was very suspicious! It is striking that Al-Hayat (newspaper) published on Saturday 24 May 2014 that the U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones said, “According to us the retired Major General Haftar is fighting banned groups.”

b. Moreover, interviews with him indicate a sign of the U.S. support.

Washington Post conducted an interview with Haftar on 20/5/ 2014, where he said, “We have started the attack to eliminate the terrorist movement in Libya, and we started about a week ago with all units of the regular army, and we are now advancing forward with the task and we see that the confrontation is the solution. But what about the coordination with Zintan? I’m telling you we are one unit.”

c. The repeated announcements of the deployment of U.S. troops to Sicily serves this purpose, so as to try to scare the inside in Libya and to support its agent Haftar by strengthening his morale, and show its readiness to help him:

– Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby declared on Tuesday, 20/05/2014 the concentration of troops belonging to the U.S. Marines on the island of Sicily. He attributed other tasks to the troops like help in the evacuation of the American citizens and workers in the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.

– The Middle East quoted on 21/5/2014 the following, “A senior official at the Ministry of Defence confirmed yesterday the presence of aircrafts in Italy on standby to evacuate Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli with the growing unrest in Libya, noting that Pentagon officials are following the situation ‘minute by minute and hour by hour'”. The newspaper also quoted from U.S. officials that “the United States increased the number of Marines and aircraft stationed in Sicily, and that can be called for the evacuation of Americans… and about 60 other soldiers from the Marines and four other aircraft of the model Osprey V – 22 are on the way to the Sitjonala naval base air in Sicily from their base in Spain. The two officials who requested not to publish their names said that the total number of Marines deployed in Sicily as a backup is about 250. This makes their presence in Italy close to Libya and helps to speed up the response.”

– AFP quoted a U.S. official on 27/05/2014 saying, “That U.S. warship will arrive within days to the Libyan coast with one thousand soldiers on board from the Marine to participate in the expected evacuation of workers at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.” The U.S. State Department asked its citizens in Libya to leave, saying, “The State Department warns the U.S. citizens from ever travelling to Libya and recommends that U.S. citizens who are currently present there to leave immediately”, and it added, “The security situation in Libya remains unpredictable with unknown repercussions and unstable.” (Reuters, 28/05/2014).

7. Through this manner, America works to postpone the elections in Libya via Haftar’s actions, it wants to reproduce its experiment in Mali, in spite of its failure there, where it led a coup d’état by one of the officers on 22/3/2012; this was before the scheduled election date by about a month fearing that if the elections is conducted it will lead to the winning of the political class loyal to France. America did not want these elections to be held in that atmosphere, but only after it is changed by the coup, but did not succeed in continuing it, France managed to end the coup attempt and held elections less than a year and a half since the coup, and elections produced a new president of Mali from the followers of France, Abu Bakr Keita, who was inaugurated on 19/09/2013, and it seems that the United States expects that it will have a better luck in Libya than in Mali!

Then America tried to reproduce the scenario of Sisi… but the reality is different between the situation in Egypt and the situation in Libya, Sisi was an army commander with the military force behind him. Whereas Haftar’s force is like a military faction, like any other military faction in Libya, it may be slightly stronger because of the faction that followed him, but the difference is not large. His reality is completely different from the reality of the Egyptian army led by Sisi; the power of the armed forces in Libya is distributed between Haftar and between the National Congress, for example: the brigades of Zintan “As-Sa’iqa and Al-Qa’qa” declared their support to the efforts of Haftar, but the Shield of Central Region “Misrata” is closer to the National Conference and is against Haftar… and so the forces of the military factions and military units have different loyalties. Therefore to equate Haftar to Sisi is incorrect; the military reality is different, Sisi was the commander of the army, along with power players, he dissolved the Parliament and removed the President and the government, due to his position of strength being the commander of the army. But Haftar is a retired military leader, heading a rebellion with U.S. support, he was unable to isolate the government nor dissolve Parliament or disable state institutions, and there are forces that must not be underestimated who are fighting against him. That is why when Haftar threatened Meitik that he will arrest him if he held the Council of Ministers’ meeting, but he failed to prevent this meeting. The military forces of the Shield the Central Region “Misrata,” escorted the director of the Office of the Prime Minister whose legitimacy is disputed, Ahmad Meitik and attacked the headquarters of the prime minister and seized documents… And Ahmad Meitik managed to head the new Libyan government on the evening of 2/6/2014 and was able to enter the headquarters of the prime minister in the Tripoli capital, amid tight military reinforcements belonging to the Shield of the Central Region “Misrata”. He entered the government headquarters before he received the task of the head of the caretaker government Abdullah Al-Thani, unabated by the threats of Haftar! If elections are held as scheduled, it is unlikely for the American agents to win. America will be left to bet on creation of chaos and unrest by Haftar and others under the pretext of fighting terrorism. It is possible to see an increase in the raids on certain armed Islamic movements to increase the chaos and unrest in the country, to be able to disrupt the elections or defer it to find another opportunity to strengthen its influence by strengthening its agents, and win more of them. It is therefore expected that America will continue its support for Haftar’s operations until it meet its ends… And if it considers that it is not feasible nor achieve the desired result and that the elections will take place, then it will work on an agreement with the Europeans who possess most of the powerful and influence on certain conditions.

8. This in terms of military power, on the other hand, the situation in Libya differs from the situation in Egypt, the Europeans, especially the English have roots in Libya and influence since the Second World War until the fall of Gaddafi, they can grow agents and be in control of the situation with the help of France and other Europeans, in addition to their puppet regimes in the region. As for Egypt, the Americans set up their roots since the coup of July 23, 1952 by Abdel Nasser and his officers, and remained in control of the Egyptian scene until today. Thus, the reality is different, and the European influence is strongest in the Libyan political circle, and it expected that Britain will seek support from France, Germany, Italy and others, with the assistance of its agents in Qatar and neighbouring countries in North Africa, to maintain this influence, especially because of Libya’s location that became the base of the so-called illegal immigration, which is feared by Europe, and therefore it fears that others take hold of power in Libya. Europe will stick to this matter until its last breath, it is encouraged by the fact that the political circle that is still predominantly loyal to Europe, “Britain”.

“America is aware of this, and realize this strong diligence from Europe, particularly Britain, therefore, America is taking a backseat i.e. without breaking up with Europe on the subject of Libya, at the time it supports Haftar to stir and cause unrest by the military action, they are also are involved with the European to show concern for Libya… The European countries and the United States issued a joint statement in 23/5/2014 (Reuters) regarding the situation in Libya, it states, “The European Union, France, Italy, Britain and the United States are deeply concerned by the ongoing violence and calls on all parties not to use force to resolve disputes in political ways.” The statement said, “The process that leads to a peaceful transfer of power must be based on a broad consensus and avoid any acts aimed at undermining this process.” Reuters added a comment saying, “The Western powers fear that the campaign led by Haftar will divide the Libyan army and then create more turmoil in the country.” This reflects the impact of the European countries in Libya, otherwise America would not be involved with these countries to issue a joint statement.

9. And so it is not expected to witness America’s success and its tool, Haftar, in the removal of European influence in Libya, but they will create concerns and troubles, and direct a strong message to the European political circle and especially the British which indicate that time of Britain’s sole control of Libya has gone, and that America should be in the picture strongly… However, the fire will continue to be flammable as long as the European-American conflict has entered the Libyan house with Libyan hands, and the kaffir colonialists are not affected if the killing starts between the Muslims shedding their blood, this on the contrary adds to their joy and invigorates… Taking control is the goal of the West, and Libyan oil is their target. They disagree depending on their interests, but they agree on their hostility to Islam and Muslims.

Consequently, Libya fell into the vortex of international conflict, and these countries made Libya the battle ring of the conflict between them to extend their hegemony and the acquisition of the largest share of the spoils. This is why the situation did not settle and the people did not achieve the goals of the revolution because of this international intervention and because of the lack of clarity in the vision in many of the workers and activists from the country’s people who rebelled against Gaddafi, who was representing the West, particularly the Europeans, delivering their interests at the expense of the people. How can people fall once more in the traps of the Western countries and become tools of the conflict between the Western powers?!

10. In summary, what is happening in Libya is that Britain and Europe from behind is trying hard to anticipate events, they are in a race against time to get out of the current impasse establishing rules for the elected government to give them legitimacy by holding of elections as soon as possible, so that it reproduces the old political order but with a fresh face from the loyalists, so that Libya does not leave its sphere of influence. Therefore, it started to push for holding the elections at the earliest opportunity, and set the Libyan election commission on June 25 as the election date for a new parliament in Libya to replace the General National Congress, with its increasing controversy, as reported by the official Libyan news agency.

America became aware of this matter and tried to obstruct it, and prevent the formation of a new government that will oversee the current stage of the organization of the elections which was set by the Libyan Electoral Commission Libyan to be conducted in June 25th. Haftar was the American tool in it, he announced on Sunday, 25/05/2014 CE, in a statement read by a spokesperson for the Libyan National Army, led by Haftar that “any convening of the General National Conference will be a target for the prevention and detention.” The army also considered that “any meeting of the conference in any place is an unlawful act and is legally legible for accountability.” He said also said on late Saturday, 24/05/2014, that if the members wanted to hold a Parliament meeting tomorrow, they will be a legitimate target for arrest. The aim of America from behind this is to maintain the state of conflict and instability, which will enable it to impose later its agents on the political map of Libya and the circle of political actors in Libya, if it is able to, or at least to be an active partner in Libya with Europe, particularly Britain.

Thus, Britain and backed by Europe is making effort to continue its influence in Libya and to hold elections under the current political circle that is loyal to them, and America wants to postpone the elections to penetrate the ranks of the current political circle in order to change it to their advantage, or at least implant its men before the elections, and the purpose of this is to have a bigger share of influence in Libya.

11. In conclusion, it is painful to see the Muslim countries which were the starting point of conquests that spread Islam and upheld justice and goodness throughout the world, become a battlefield for the Kaffir colonialists’ rivalry to kill and plunder our wealth… Their mouths are filled with laughter at every drop of our spilled blood, not by their hands, but in the hands of their agents from our own people!

The Kaffir colonialist are our enemies, it is not surprising that they exert every effort to kill us, but for Libyans opponents to join them, some of them befriend the American, and some of them befriend Europe, and then they fighting each other, fighting not for Islam and upholding the word of Allah, but for the interests of the Kaffir colonialist… this is one of the major sins, fighting among Muslims is a great crime in Islam, it says in the hadeeth narrated by Muslim from Abu Hurayrah that he said the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said,

«كُلُّ الْمُسْلِمِ عَلَى الْمُسْلِمِ حَرَامٌ، دَمُهُ، وَمَالُهُ، وَعِرْضُهُ»

“Every Muslim’s violation is forbidden by a Muslim: his blood, his wealth, and his honour”.

And in the hadeeth extracted by Ibn Majah from Ibn Umar that he said: I saw the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم making Tawaf around the Ka’bah, and said:

«مَا أَطْيَبَكِ وَأَطْيَبَ رِيحَكِ، مَا أَعْظَمَكِ وَأَعْظَمَ حُرْمَتَكِ، وَالَّذِي نَفْسُ مُحَمَّدٍ بِيَدِهِ، لَحُرْمَةُ الْمُؤْمِنِ أَعْظَمُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ حُرْمَةً مِنْكِ، مَالِهِ، وَدَمِهِ، وَأَنْ نَظُنَّ بِهِ إِلَّا خَيْرًا»،

“How beautiful you are, and how beautiful is your scent, How great you are and how great is your sanctity, by the one whose my soul is in hands, the sanctity of the believer to Allah is greater than your sanctity, his money, and his blood, and that we think only good of him”

And in the hadeeth extracted by Nasa’i from Abdullah ibn Amr, that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

«لَزَوَالُ الدُّنْيَا أَهْوَنُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ مِنْ قَتْلِ رَجُلٍ مُسْلِمٍ»

“The demise of this world is lesser to Allah (in gravity) than killing a Muslim man”.

In conclusion, Libya is not devoid of a third party, honest and sincere, whose main concern is to restore goodness and justice to Libya by the rule of Islam in life, state and society. We hope that this team that stands in the face of the followers of Europe and America, and guides them to the truth, and stop their fighting between themselves; and that they direct their weapons together to the throats of the enemies of Islam and Muslims, to purify Libya of all the kaffir occupiers and every traitor agent… and Libya returns to its origin: the launching place of the conquerors, and the country of the Holy Quran, the guarded Islamic Castle Islamic by Islam, and the guardian of Islam, by Allah’s will and strength.

وَاللَّهُ غَالِبٌ عَلَى أَمْرِهِ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

“Allah is in control of His affair. However, most of mankind do not know.”

(Yusuf: 21)

5 Sha’ban 1435 AH

3/6/2014 CE