George Vella

Libya’s new Parliament has asked warring factions to agree on a ceasefire monitored by the United Nations but Foreign Minister George Vella is not holding his breath.

As Libya descends further into chaos, Dr Vella insists the situation today is more complex than it was three years ago when Muammar Gaddafi was ousted.

“We are dealing with a fragmented country now,” he says and goes on to point out that the legitimacy of the new Parliament is being contested in the Libyan court.

But the legal challenge is not the only hurdle. Parliamentarians elected from the Misurata area boycotted the first session held in the eastern city of Tobruk.

It took Europe 500 years of internal war and bloodshed to produce democracy

And while the Libyan Acting Prime Minister, a Zintani – a powerful secularist western-based faction – has asked the UN to get involved in a peace initiative, the proposal was not well-received by his Islamist oriented rivals from Misurata.

“Finding a solution will not be easy but ultimately it is the Libyans who have to find the will to sit down and talk,” he adds.

However, this is proving difficult. Dr Vella points out that at a Madrid conference that tried to bring all parties together last week, the Zintanis did not turn up.

Dr Vella says Malta is doing its part to bring the different factions together. “We have maintained good contacts with the Zintanis and the Misuratans and within our limitations we are doing our bit to bring all sides together like many other countries are,” he says.

But a solution cannot be imposed and it is preposterous to believe it is round the corner, Dr Vella adds. The difficulty of bridging the differences between Libya’s rival factions that have vied for power and resources since the ousting of Gaddafi in 2011 is acknowledged by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.

Writing in The Sunday Times of Malta (see page 19), Dr Busuttil says the fighting involves “entangled alliances” and insists it is “inconceivable that either alliance can be excluded from a political settlement in Libya”.

Having publicly proposed the involvement of a UN peace keeping mission, Dr Busuttil says no single country, other than Libya itself, can provide a lasting solution to the crisis.

“In this context, the call by the newly constituted Libyan house of representatives for a UN-backed ceasefire is worth pursuing, provided that all key factions in Libya are involved,” he says.

But any foreign intervention will probably be doomed to failure, according to Arsalan Alshinawi, an academic of Iraqi descent who lectures in international relations at the University of Malta. “Change in the Arab world from Morocco to Iraq has to be indigenous not exogenous,” he insists.

The current predicament in Libya is caused by a society that cannot cope with the plurality of forces that emerged after Gaddafi was toppled, he argues. Dr Alshinawi takes umbrage at the pro-democracy argument floated by western leaders as the yardstick by which to measure success or failure in countries like Libya. He says change in the Arab world will have to take its natural course.

“A consequence of this is that blood will be shed and people will die but it took Europe more than 500 years of internal war and bloodshed to settle down and produce democracy,” Dr Alshinawi points out.

He believes that at this stage of development Libya needs “a highly dominant strong force” that may have to use force to eliminate its opponents.

“General Haftar represents a strong secular force that rejects the brand of Islam imported from Saudi Arabia but he has opponents and is justified to respond in a strong way if attacked,” he says. The reference is to Libyan renegade general Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive against Islamist militias in Benghazi two months ago.

However, his forces were two weeks ago routed out of their base in Libya’s second city by a resurgent Islamist force. Dr Alshinawi acknowledges the going will not be easy but insists societies in turmoil will eventually give birth to their leaders without the need for foreign interference.

As Libya’s turmoil grows, only time will tell whether he is right.

• Almost 300 people were evacuated from Benghazi to Malta by a catamaran operated by Virtu Ferries early this morning.

It was expected to berth at Grand Harbour at 12.30am carrying 291 Indian workers and one Maltese national. It was chartered by the Indian government.