According to the Telegraph(UK) Sisi will demand that Cameron complete the “mission” he began in Libya in order to “prevent the country becoming another Islamist-dominated state like Syria”. A bizarre statement. The western intervention in Libya, with participation by the UK, released Islamists both moderates and radicals from the iron grip of the Gadaffi regime, The west did not object to Gadaffi’s repression of Islamists. The CIA even rendered suspects to Libyan jails on occasion. No doubt what Sisi means is that as well as getting rid of Gadaffi, the west should have also ensured that they put the newly freed Islamists back in jail, and barred them from running for office as they are in Egypt, especially the Muslim Brotherhood. This is what Khalfa Haftar, the commander of the internationally-recognized House of Representatives armed forces, an admirer of Sisi, would like to see happen.
El-Sisi said: “Libya is a danger that threatens all of us. If there is no government then this only creates a vacuum where extremists can prosper, It was a mission that was not completely accomplished… We must support all efforts to help the Libyan people and the Libyan economy. We need to stop the flow of funds and weapons and foreign fighters to the extremists. All the members of NATO – including Britain – who took part in the mission to overthrow Qaddafi need to give their help,”
Sisi should be buoyed by the fact that the UK already had plans to intervene in Libya back in August to combat the Islamic State. There are a whole group of western nations just waiting for the formation of a unity government that will give them permission to intervene.
All of a sudden, all the cheerleaders for a unity government are quiet. Dialogue talks that were to take place over a week ago never took place. Bernardino Leon, the UN’s Great Shepherd of this year-long peace process, is departing as of Friday to take a well-paying job training diplomats in the UAE, a country that has always strongly supported Haftar and the HoR government, even to the point of bombing Tripoli for them. Perhaps Haftar will now be able to push for a military council to rule Libya and the west can help Haftar and his Operation Dignity clear Libya of Islamists, including the forces of the rival General National Congress government.
