Libya has become a battleground for regional struggles

Ever since Muammar Gaddafi was deposed in 2011, rival militias have been battling for control of Libya. In recent days, the long-running crisis has deepened. On Monday 16 February, Egyptian forces bombed alleged Islamic State targets in Libya, after a video was released online, appeared to show militants beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians.

Since then, Libya has asked the UN Security Council to lift an arms embargo against it, so that it can deal with militants more effectively. The Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Dairi stressed that his government is not asking for foreign intervention, but said that lifting the embargo would help the government to fight “rampant terrorism”. Egypt said it supported Libya’s request. Meanwhile, Jordan has circulated a draft resolution to the Security Council, also calling for the arms embargo to be lifted, for work to be done to halt the flow of weapons to militants, and pushing for the return of Libya’s internationally recognized government to the capital in Tripoli. Currently, the western-backed government has been forced out into Tobruk, while their rivals, mostly Islamist, are sitting in parliament Tripoli. This means that the country currently has two governments.

Jordan’s resolution points to the key reservations about lifting the arms embargo: given that governance is practically non-existent in Libya, western diplomats are concerned that weapons could fall into the hands of militia groups. The British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond has already rejected the idea of foreign intervention or lifting the embargo, calling, once again, for a negotiated settlement.

Yet four years after the 2011 ouster of Gaddafi, the country remains in a persistent state of instability – despite repeated attempts at mediation by the UN. Of course, one reason that a political solution has been hard to come by is the role of external powers, which have played an important role in supporting rival factions ever since the earliest days of the 2011 revolution. During the uprising, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar supplied rival militias with arms, intelligence, and training. At that stage, the goal of these rival groups was the same – to depose Gaddafi. When he fell, however, the rival militias did not join forces for the common good, but continued to battle each other and compete for funding and weapons from neighbouring states.

Today, the situation is incredibly complex. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt support the Tobruk government, which has international backing, and is broadly opposed to Islamist militias and their affiliates. It is an oversimplification to portray the battle as one simply between nationalists and Islamists given the sheer number of different actors and interests involved, but that is increasingly the narrative by which the conflict is defined internationally. The countries supporting the Tobruk government are all profoundly anxious about political Islam within their own borders, and do not want militants to find safe haven in Libya. This is a particular concern for Egypt, which is engaged in a brutal crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, and shares its western border with Libya. This border has been identified by a UN investigation as a major entry point for weapons going to Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.

On the other side of this proxy war are Sudan, Turkey, and Qatar. These states are all providing support on some level to the Tripoli government, also known as Libyan Dawn, which is seen internationally as illegitimate. Its politics are broadly Islamist. Qatar has been arming Islamist militias since the 2011 uprising, while Sudan and Turkey are providing logistical and political support to the government. This is part of a wider regional strategy to support Islamist political movements.

The struggle in Libya is a mirror for the wider polarisation taking place in the region. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt are all part of a push to erect legal, political, and military barriers to Islamist political participation and mobilisation, while the other countries concerned – Turkey, Sudan, Qatar – are part of the opposing side.

Recently, 13 countries signed a statement pledging non-interference in Libya’s internal affairs. Among the signatories were Egypt, the UAE, Qatar and Turkey. Clearly, the oath was not made in good faith, since funds and weapons are continuing to change hands. The political reconciliation that the UN, US and other western nations have repeatedly called for will not be forthcoming until regional powers stop using Libya as a battleground for their wider struggles.