Military intervention in Libya 'unacceptable', Tuareg official

Libya’s Tuareg representative to the Libyan national dialogue, Mossa Al-Koni yesterday rejected any “foreign military intervention in Libya” stressing that his country “does not export terrorism, but terrorism penetrated its territories following the French military intervention in Mali in 2013”.

In an interview with the Anadolu Agency, Al-Koni who served as a member of the transitional council after the revolution of 17 February 2011 said: “No one accepts the killing of Egyptian Copts in this way, the images were shocking not to only to Libyans but for the international community, especially that these innocent people had nothing to do with the ongoing conflict.”

He added that these actions “cannot be attributed to Libya or Libyans”.

“Those who carry out these kinds of acts have no particular nationality, or affiliation, they are cross-border groups programmed to carry out these acts, no matter who stands in front of them, Muslim or non-Muslim, Sunni or Shia or Coptic, and therefore we cannot associate them with a religion or doctrine,” he noted.

Al-Koni offered his condolences to the families of the victims in the city of Darnah who were bombed by the Egyptian fighter jets which left eight people dead including four children between the ages of four and seven.

He said: “The Egyptian military intervention is completely unacceptable” stressing that Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi carried out the air strikes in Libya to absorb the Egyptians’ anger after the execution of the Copts.

“The Egyptian attack is fruitless because terrorism cannot be fought with aircrafts, only the Libyans can defeat it on the ground and in coordination with the country’s social components including the tribes and families, because they know who is involved in terrorism. They are best to protect their areas from terrorism,” he explained.

Remarking on the Tuareg’s perception on how to overcome the division that hit the country, Koni said “the solution lies in forming a national unity government that gathers the state institutions including the army and security agencies. This government should begin working on collecting weapons and help the displaced return to their homes. It should also re- open roads, airports, ports, and then set up a national army that serves all the Libyans”.

Koni pointed out that “the only way to form this government is through dialogue” noting that several dialogue initiatives are underway some inside Libya and some outside Libya.

However, he added “everyone supports the dialogue led by the United Nations which brings together the Tobruk Parliament and the General National Congress in Tripoli.

Koni remarked on the situation south of Libya saying “It is true that there are a number of terrorists there as well as the smuggling gangs who use the Libyan south as a corridor, but terrorism penetrated Libya after the French military intervention in northern Mali, which prompted terrorist groups to move to Libya in light of the fragility of the Libyan situation”.

“The French intervention in northern Mali did not address the problems, but prevented these groups from reaching Bamako, we are still suffering the effects of this intervention.. There was no terrorism in Libya at a time when there was terrorism in Mali” he said.

He added “We heard comments from French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Odrian that there will be direct intervention in the south of Libya and we also heard contrary comments from the French foreign ministry. There is a division in the French political circles about the situation in the south of Libya. Algeria also refused this direct intervention in the Libya.