Libyan crisis

Africa and the Middle East are experiencing political unrest at the moment. The main demand of the agitators is that the rulers of the respective countries should either step down or give more space and more democracy. Libya too has been embroiled in a tussle between pro-Government and anti-Government activists and forces for the past few weeks.

United Nations Security Council resolution 1703 has given Western powers the cover of legitimacy for military intervention in Libya following the declaration of a No Fly Zone over its skies. Although this has been described as a mission to save the Libyan civilian population, the opposite seems to be happening according to foreign media reports. Air strikes have now been going on for nearly six nights.

This is not the first time that the Western coalition powers have engaged in such military action against sovereign nations. The first Iraq War (Operation Desert Storm) did not even have UN backing. The Western Allies began the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003 on the pretext that Saddam Hussein was accumulating Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Eight years on, no WMDs have been found and Iraq is in flames. Much the same story applies to Afghanistan. It is no secret that certain Western powers are keen to take military action against Iran and North Korea, on the grounds of nuclear proliferation.

The most obvious result of such often unilateral military action is that people in these countries, whom the Allies seek to 'liberate' from so-called tyrannical regimes, suffer heavily in the end. There had been many civilian deaths as a result of coalition air strikes in a number of countries. Economic sanctions too ultimately affect the ordinary people.

Sri Lanka and Libya have enjoyed close and fruitful diplomatic relations over the years, which have been reinforced during the last few years. Sri Lankan leaders have maintained a close rapport with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

It is in this context that External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris said in Parliament that air strikes on the Libyan people (by Coalition Forces) cannot be accepted as the strikes have increased the people's suffering.

"We feel empathy for the people of Libya. The action today has been taken in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution. But this authority given to them is not an open-ended authority but it is restricted. Action should be taken to protect the civilians in Libya. Any action taken beyond this objective is not acceptable. Another matter is that the suffering of the Libyan people should be relieved by these actions. It has worsened their suffering. Political relations are crucial at this time. We hope that the Libyan Government will soon come out with a solution to this problem. It should be a fair solution that serves the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Libya," the Minister said.

Although none of the Allied Forces would accept it in public, regime change in Libya, seems to very much on the agenda. This is expressly not part of the UN mandate. The Minister's point on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Libya is thus very significant. The world seems to be as polarized as ever on the current military action against Libya. Moreover, the Coalition countries have maintained silence over similar events in some of the countries perceived to be pro-West.

It must be borne in mind that just two years ago, most of these very same powers were working to halt the Government's humanitarian operation in the North, claiming massive civilian casualties.

The Security Forces strictly followed a zero civilian casualty policy during the whole endeavour and the ultimate objective was in fact, saving these civilians from the LTTE. There were many calls for international intervention to stop the operations, with the hidden objective of giving oxygen to the LTTE. However, these designs were not successful as President Rajapaksa did not waver in his determination to conclude the humanitarian operation even under immense Western pressure. These foreign powers were thus unable to violate Sri Lanka's sovereignty or territorial integrity. Many other countries including China and Russia were on Sri Lanka's side, countering the West. Now there is a sinister attempt by the same Western Forces to take Sri Lankan leaders to task over alleged war crimes.

The international community does have a role to play in conflict resolution, but military intervention should never be the first step. Countries should be given an opportunity to resolve their problems on their own, through a political process. Sri Lanka, which wiped out terrorism in May 2009 is formulating such a solution and addressing issues such as reconciliation. Sri Lanka has called for just such a political process in Libya which will realize the aspirations of all sections of the Libyan masses.

The world should give an opportunity for Libyans themselves to have a dialogue and formulate a solution to the current impasse, without forcing one on them. An 'international' solution will not have the best interests of Libyans at heart. That should come from within Libya, from Libyans themselves. Otherwise, Libya could turn out to be another Iraq or Afghanistan which would be a real tragedy.