Libya: fighting erupts between rogue general and islamists

[MalaspinaGold]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/27/libya-fighting-militias_n_5624993.html

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

A rouge pro-American general? Interesting.

[Mr. Morden]

A rouge pro-American general? Interesting.

He's more tan than rouge.

[Simfan34]

This Haftar guy would seem better if he wasn't so bad at hiding his ambitions to become a Libyan el-Sisi. Fighting Islamists is a good thing, but his open hostility to the Muslim Brotherhood seems more a desire to eliminate potential political rivals rather than radical Islamism; the real and active threat are the Salafists. And in that context his desire to seek the aid of Saudi Arabia seems counterproductive.

What should happen is that someone with sufficient legitimacy (yes, I am imagining the Sanussis here) should step in between the MB and the Karama-ists, and assume power by telling the two sides they are necessary to prevent the other from wiping them out. The 1951 constitution would be restored on a probationary basis pending revision. The elected assembly should remain for the time being.

The militias should be de-authorised and re-shuffled into regular units of the standing army. Haftar should be given a promotion, feted, and then pensioned off; the officer corps should be filled mainly with pragmatic anti-Islamists. Martial law should be used to crack down on Salafists  and would-be troublemakers. A liberal should be appointed Prime Minister, someone along the lines of Ali Zeidan. Failing all else they could resort to Egyptian intervention, but that's bound to alarm the Muslim Brotherhood when their cooperation is needed.

When something resembling stability is restored to the country the political reform process should be resumed and quickly concluded; the federalist 1951 Constitution should be adopted with a few changes here and there. It would be better if most of the federal powers were invested in the governorates of 1963 rather than the three provinces which would be largely ceremonial; they had proved unwieldy and too polarising. The role of religion in governance should be broadly similar to that in Morocco, with Sharia remaining primarily in the realm of family law.

I get the impression that the Muslim Brotherhood, and more radical Islamist elements, are markedly less popular in Libya than in Egypt, after all they are considered to have suffered considerable losses in the recent elections. The Muslim Brotherhood should thus be told that must disclaim political activity, and its affiliated parties should take after the AK Party and adopt "conservative democracy" rather than Islamism. The appointed Senate should be used as a bulwark of the sort of pragmatic politics that the government aims to foster. Meanwhile Salafism should continue to be untolerated, and Saudi influences rejected, and the temperance of the Sanussiyah order used to encourage moderate Islam.

[Simfan34]

The militants claim that they have captured Benghazi as Haftar's troops increasingly appear to have been routed- it is even claimed he fled to Egypt; the militants apparently have also declared an Emirate:

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But people have been protesting against the militias.

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Recall Benghazi was the starting place of the uprising, that it is the stronghold of support for the Sanusis and Sufism, that people there took to the streets after the Ambassador was killed in protest. It's almost certain they are not supportive of the Islamist takeover.

The alarming thing is that Libyan fighters in Iraq and Syria are starting to return to Libya in an attempt to take over the country. This comes as both the MB and Salafists alike were decidedly defeated in elections (albeit with poor turnout), which is depressing.

The problem is the central government seems an entirely notional institution at the moment. If I was inclined to be more dramatic, I'd say Libya had turned into something resembling Somalia without anyone really noticing.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

benghazi

[Middle-aged Europe]

A rouge pro-American general? Interesting.

He's more tan than rouge.

Haftar is not only a pro-American general, he is in fact an American general, since he holds a dual Libyan-US citizenship.

[Nhoj]

A rouge pro-American general? Interesting.

He's more tan than rouge.

Haftar is not only a pro-American general, he is in fact an American general, since he holds a dual Libyan-US citizenship.

Using it in that way implies hes a general in the US army so no that doesnt quite work.

[Middle-aged Europe]

A rouge pro-American general? Interesting.

He's more tan than rouge.

Haftar is not only a pro-American general, he is in fact an American general, since he holds a dual Libyan-US citizenship.

Using it in that way implies hes a general in the US army so no that doesnt quite work.

Yes, that's insofar correct that Haftar is not with US Army, but possibly with the CIA.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cias-man-in-libya-2011-4

[Nhoj]

A rouge pro-American general? Interesting.

He's more tan than rouge.

Haftar is not only a pro-American general, he is in fact an American general, since he holds a dual Libyan-US citizenship.

Using it in that way implies hes a general in the US army so no that doesnt quite work.

Yes, that's insofar correct that Haftar is not with US Army, but possibly with the CIA.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cias-man-in-libya-2011-4

True but his title is probably not "general" in the cia.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Chief of Tripoli police shot dead, apparently.