Thanks again to Industry Arabic, the leader in Arabic translation services, we bring you this timely translation from the Libyan press. In our opinion the article is articulate and correct in its analysis, and reflects the mainstream opinion of majority Libyans: The fence sitters.
By Mohamed EgmiaSource: Libya Al-MostakbalThe oil war between tribal militias of eastern and western Libya will be worse than the civil wars that Libya has witnessed so far, and it will constitute the turning point in the Libyan crisis. In this war, tribalism will reveal its true, horrific face, and the last fig leaf will fall away from the House of Representatives – which is under the control of extremist tribal militias in the east – and the General National Congress in the west, whose tribal and religious militias were the cause of this split. These events will ignite civil wars and spread civil strife between the cities and the tribes in Libya, east and west.Now that the tribal militia that controls the oil ports has declared a monopoly on the sale of oil in favor of the Cyrenaica government, Cyrenaica separatists are claiming, “Finally, Cyrenaica has recovered its rights and the domination of western Libyan over oil revenues and the country’s riches has come to an end.” The tribal militia has also warned companies against dealing with the government of western Libya or its oil corporation, and against dealing with the Central Bank. Thus, the Cyrenaica separatists have achieved their aspirations and their government in eastern Libyan now has its own central bank and independent oil corporation as well, and there is nothing left to do but draw the borders. However, the question now is: will it end here with the government of western Libya accepting the de facto situation and living without the oil revenues? Note that these revenues are their only “financial resource,” and they were sharing it before with the government of eastern Libya, their partners in the partition of the country.Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of the Interim Government in the east has been prevented by tribal militias from travelling outside the country more than once over the past months and has been placed under house arrest by the same militias, while other militias have forced him to change his ministers or ambassadors for tribal and provincial reasons. This Prime Minister does not have the authority to issue orders to the tribal militias in control of the oil ports – or any other militias for that matter. The same goes for the government of western Libya, which has been unable to secure a road on the outskirts of Tripoli. It has even been unable to secure itself: one of its ministers was abducted and its headquarters at the heart of Tripoli was attached, while all it could do was call for help from another militia to save it!The fact of the matter is that the heads of Libya’s current governments are wretched little actors compelled to play the part of heads of fake governments with no real authority. The poor Libyan people is in the same position as they are, suffering under the dominance of extremists tribal and religious militias.The House of Representatives and the General National Congress (whose term has expired) continue to circulate slogans and propaganda, and they both show an apparent zeal to disavow their suspected separatist intentions through demagogic discourse or superficial measures – such as giving a number of ministerial portfolios to figures belonging, in terms of their tribe, to the other side. Nevertheless, both the Tripoli GNC and the Tobruk House of Representatives have turned into the leaders of an actual separatist plan. They have become tools for tearing apart the fabric of the country for the sake of personal interests or for the other countries that back either side. After they start an oil war, the last task for both the House of Representatives and the GNC will be to actually divide Libya – then their mission will be complete.Not all the members of the House of Representatives in eastern Libya and the GNC in western Libya are necessarily supporters of the separatist plan plotting the division of the country. The extremist leaders of both bodies are a minority, but they are a minority backed by militias that are strong on the ground and backed by regional actors and their media outlets. Furthermore, another important factor is what is known as “sexual control” or sexual scandals that have become – unfortunately – one of the most important decision-making factors in Libya, as several members of the GNC have acknowledged, and according to scandalous recordings leaked of a number of political figures!Absent Libyans will discover the lies of the Libya Dawn and Operation Dignity militias, since none are different from the other, whether the one who claimed that his objective in declaring war was to liberate Tripoli Airport and then destroyed and burned it, declaring a separatist government, or the one who claimed that his objective was liberating Benghazi and then destroyed it and turned its residents into refugees in neighboring countries, setting himself up as leader of an army of militias and people out for blood.Both of them will disappear, whether they wore the cloak of the Muslim Brotherhood or an army uniform. In reality, they are nothing but pragmatists in pursuit of power at any price. They belong neither to the Brotherhood nor to the army, and even if Gaddafi himself appeared, you would see the same personalities draped in green and hailing him in the public squares.After all this destruction caused by both sides of the division and struggle, we do not believe that Libyans are still afraid of the boogeyman of a “political vacuum.” Perhaps that “vacuum” that is being exploited by the House of Representatives and the GNC to threaten Libyans might bring hope of salvation for Libya from those who have been at the forefront for years and who have done nothing but cause more wars, death, displacement, and destruction.Such a “political vacuum” might be an opportunity for Libyans to put an end to their sufferings and choose an alternative agreed on by the people, rather than giving in to the current situation and waiting for the all-out war that the two sides are preparing as a bloodbath for all Libyans without distinction. Ultimately, matters are in the hands of the Libyan people, and it is the Libyan people who decide when their tragedy will come to an end.