War criminals in London and Paris to blame for the mess in war-torn Libya
What you need to know:
- This was merely a regional contest for power, not a revolution. But the leaders in London and Paris, who loathed Gaddafi above all for his independent-mindedness, spotted a chance to export “democracy” and impose a leader on Libya who would dance to their tunes.
- To his immense credit, Barack Obama was extremely reluctant to get involved, a stance for which he was severely criticised and which now seems exceedingly wise.
- The problem with Kenyans is that we are world class complainers. We complain when the authorities don’t act and fall over ourselves criticising them when they do something.
One of the best editors I have worked with offered me countless pieces of advice including an order never to start a story with a quotation unless the words were truly remarkable.
So the only circumstance in which he would allow a quote at the start of an article was if, say, the Pope stepped out at the balcony at the Vatican and declared: “I am resigning my papacy to embark on a career as a professional wrestler.”
A sticker I saw online the other day, though, could potentially fall in the category of quotes good enough to start a story about Western intervention: It had a picture of an American mouthing the words: “Be friendly to us, or we will bring democracy to your country.”
The reference is to the countless examples of nations around the world which have been brought to their knees by foreign intervention in the name of exporting democracy, with Iraq the poster boy of this trend.
Libya is the latest example. European leaders have been meeting over the last week to address the crisis of migrants crossing the sea into Europe through ungoverned Libya but completely unspoken among them was the fact that they are the authors of the mess in that country, which is soon to become the world’s newest failed state following the ouster and brutal murder of Muammar Gaddafi.
This was a disaster foretold. There was no revolution in Libya. Unlike Egypt and Tunisia, which are reasonably homogeneous, Libya is an ethnically and regionally divided place.
It is a recent construct, patched together from three separate kingdoms, Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan, distinct territories whose history goes back thousands of years.
When the uprisings broke out in the Arab world, the people of Benghazi, who had never forgiven Gaddafi (a Tripolitanian) for ousting King Idris, a native of Cyrenaica in 1969, decided to take the opportunity to rise up against his government.
This was merely a regional contest for power, not a revolution. But the leaders in London and Paris, who loathed Gaddafi above all for his independent-mindedness, spotted a chance to export “democracy” and impose a leader on Libya who would dance to their tunes.
BARACK OBAMA
To his immense credit, Barack Obama was extremely reluctant to get involved, a stance for which he was severely criticised and which now seems exceedingly wise.
A French jet bombed Gaddafi’s convoy and mobs savagely finished the job by lynching him to the general approval of the power wielders in Western capitals.
What do we have today? A splendid mess. Most of Libya is now a battlefield.
A nation where once existed the best social welfare system in Africa is now run by a patchwork of militias with the civilian population hemmed in between them.
Shouldn’t the Rome Statute be revised to classify leaders such as Sarkozy, Cameron and Bush who launch wars on false pretences and upend the lives of millions of innocents, consigning states to civil war for years on end, as war criminals?
At the very least, the warmonger class in the West should spare the world the empty rhetoric and admit that they never set out in their interventions to spread “democracy”.
Only, in the words of the Tufts Professor Hugh Roberts, to punish “hostile”, “defiant”, “insufficiently compliant”, or “rogue regimes” to advance their own interests.
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Governor Evans Kidero deserves to be commended for his attempts to ease the traffic crisis in the capital.
The removal of the Westlands roundabout, for example, has ended a long-running traffic choke point.
Mombasa Road is a work in progress but the diversion of the trucks into the southern bypass will surely help.
The problem with Kenyans is that we are world class complainers. We complain when the authorities don’t act and fall over ourselves criticising them when they do something.
As one who has assailed the Governor for his inertia in the past, I now doff the cap to him for at least trying something.
Interventions like a mass transit public transport system will take years to implement.
If a few tweaks can at least help the traffic move along a little faster, they are certainly worth doing.
