It should not come as a surprise to followers of the U.S. position in Libya to discover that both the U.S. and British political apparatus are trying to block Egypt’s request to the Security Council for intervention in Libya.
What comes as more of a surprise is the stark contrast between espoused public positions from both President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron about fighting “Islamic Extremism” when contrast against their less public -but far more damaging- positions about allowing the elements of ISIS to have free reign amid the Libyan geography.
As a consequence what is beginning to emerge is, yet again, the rise of Russian influence in the North African region; as Russia’s Putin and Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi work together to remove the extremists despite the action of Cameron and Obama.
CAIRO – Faced with a new threat to its national security, Egypt may, at least for now, go it alone in battling ISIL militants in neighbouring Libya.
Egyptian warplanes struck ISIL targets last week in the city of Derna, an extremist stronghold, in retaliation for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians there by the militants.
But Cairo’s desire to see the creation of a UN-backed force to intervene militarily in Libya has been stymied at the UN Security Council last week.
After consultations with members of the UN Security Council, Egypt dramatically lowered its expectations, seeking only a lifting of the arms embargo imposed on Libya’s internationally recognised government, which is headquartered in the east of the country in Tobruk. The UN imposed an arms embargo on Libya in Febraury 2011 when longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s forces cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.
But even that was rejected, out of fear that weapons would end up in the hands of extremists.
The way forward for Libya, said the US, Britain and several of its European allies, is for a political settlement that reconciles the country’s two rival governments.
Talks between the two governments have been going on for months under the auspices of the United Nations, but there is no telling when, if ever, they will come to fruition.
Egypt, for its part, views the talks to reconcile the two governments and the threat posed by ISIL to its own security and that of Europe as twin challenges that should be tackled simultaneously.
The rise of extremists in Libya has been the cause of serious problems in Egypt and the declaration of allegiance to ISIL by many of the militant groups in the oil-rich nation has deepened Egypt’s fears.
The threat so close to Egypt’s western gateway is compounded by the burgeoning insurgency on Egypt’s eastern flank, in the strategic Sinai Peninsula, where militants such as the Ansar Beit Al Maqdis also swore allegiance to ISIL.
The two threats are linked. Since Qaddafi was ousted in 2011, militants in Libya have smuggled huge amounts of weapons across the porous Egypt-Libya desert border. The weapons eventually reached the extremists in Sinai, where they are used to attack army and security forces with devastating effect.
Egypt wanted an international cover of legitimacy to eliminate the threat from Libya, and publicly called for “material and political” help to deal with the militants there. It also said it wanted an international coalition that mirrors the one staging airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria since last summer.
For now at least, this is not happening, leaving Egypt with no choice but to find other ways to deal with the threat. (read more)
Libya was the Obama administration's 1st war of choice and they left the country to Mad Max militiamen http://t.co/TL1xX6h38I @meetthepress
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) February 22, 2015