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The Incompetence of the European Union on Libya

Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, Originally posted in Arabic on August 19

If the history of our region has taught us one thing, it is that sweeping a problem under the carpet doesn’t make it disappear. In fact, it achieves quite the opposite: making the phenomenon grow in strength and size.

This is the case today with Libya, where dozens of extremist terror groups are vying for control over the war-torn country. They have been growing and multiplying each and every year, while the West preferred to turn a blind eye to Tripoli.

Along the way, warnings calling for an international intervention in Libya were bounteous. They included an attempt to kill an African ambassador in Tripoli, the storming of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi (which resulted in the killing of an acting American ambassador), the kidnapping of the Libyan Prime Minister, and several other attacks against foreign interests.

The United States attempted to conduct a small-scale military intervention in Benghazi, only to be left unaided by the European Union. In Brussels, European leaders assumed that if they try really hard to ignore the problem, it would simply disappear on its own. This has been the European policy towards the Middle East for years. Only recently did a change in this stance occur, when the Italian Prime Minister suggested targeting Libya as a part of the international coalition against the Islamic State.

However, this might be too little and too late. The E.U. has a strategic interest in bringing stability to Libya – its neighbor across the Mediterranean  but failed to do so time and time again. It is now facing a severe problem of illegal immigrants coming from northern Africa. Intervening in foreign countries, particularly militarily, is never desired.

But European leaders have failed to read the political map. They wanted to remove themselves from the issue and got, instead, a new Somalia in their backyards. – Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed