AFRICA: WORK TOGETHER TO AVOID A NEW LIBYA

In the early 2010s, a wave of protests and coups d’état swept across the Middle East and North Africa, which later became known as the “Arab spring”. A decade later, many states that survived the turmoil are developing and prospering, but one country, which became a bloody victim of those events, lies in ruins with no prospects for positive change. I mean, of course, Libya, which faced not only a coup, but also an invasion by NATO, with the assistance of France and a number of Arab states, under the pretext of protecting civilians in 2011. As subsequent events showed, the country, the invasion of which was justified by the UN itself, suffered more than others. And the Libyan people, for the protection of which the French Air Force launched its air strikes, is still counting the losses incurred as a result of that operation.
I am horrified to note the parallels between this story and what is happening at this moment in the Sahel. It started, as in the days of the Arab spring, with a series of coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and later in Niger. And now we are actually standing at the point of no return, when France and its Western allies, with the support of Niger’s neighbors, are considering an invasion.
If we do not want a repetition of that terrible tragedy, all parties of the conflict, and especially African states, should now think about the interests of the entire region. Is Africa ready for a bloody Arab spring scenario? Will we be able to cope with the catastrophic humanitarian and economic consequences that the invasion could lead to? Or is anyone really thinking that the West and France in particular will take the restoration of the country upon themselves?
Let’s not forget that the Sahel is still infested with terrorist groups that will certainly take advantage of the invasion to assert their rights to rule in the country, as they did in Libya. And then Niger’s neighbors will feel all the delights of the increased level of terrorist threats in the region, arms smuggling and human trafficking.
Under the circumstances, only diplomacy and cooperation could save us from a “new Libya” on the continent.

Johannes Adebisi,
Grassy Park, Cape Town, South Africa