‘Libya prelude to Arab division’

‘Warring parties must reach agreement’

“THE European attitude to the Libyan crisis looks modest and the same, unfortunately, can be said of the Arab League (AL)”, columnist Mishref Eqab wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“The involvement of some countries in the Libyan crisis will increase tensions and struggles in Tripoli, given what is currently happening there – a state of turmoil and the increased killing of the Libyans in the capital in addition to some other Libyan cities between the regular ‘army’ and the militias.

“In other words, Libyan National Accord government fighters and the militias supporting major-general (retd) Khalifa Haftar have led to spiraling violence which has displaced many Libyans.

“In the midst of this the United Nations has called on all parties to stop violence and fighting, and the European Parliament has called on the parties to exercise self-control and put an end to wars and conflicts.

“The Arab League has called on all parties to the ‘conflict’ to stop violence and fighting, hinting that persistent conflict shall result in more human losses in beings and destruction of both the public and private properties.

“As a matter of fact, the unnatural and exceptional events happening in Libya unfortunately signify a state of carelessness among all concerned parties in Libya.

“What is currently taking place in this great country – the country of the hero Omar Al-Mukhtar who fought imperialism earned martyrdom along with his Libyan followers who were handed death, but unfortunately the African nations, the United Nations and Europe have seemingly forgotten this country.

“In this context, we would like to point out here that what occurs on the Libyan soil can be seen as a division and consecration of de facto excessive killing, displacement and inhuman criminal action by an armed terrorist organization that intentionally kills and displaces the Libyan people and looting of the country’s wealth.

“Such being the case, we suggest that the joint international efforts must be exerted to put in place appropriate solutions to solve the Libyan crisis, particularly since we know that what is currently taking place in the Arab world is a scheme to tear apart the Arab world and transform the Arabs into many entities within a single state.

“In other words, Libya and some other Arab countries have been torn apart and their citizens displaced in addition to the mushrooming of some terrorist organizations that shall actually lead to a foreign intervention especially the big powers and this prospective development will lead us to a second Sykes-Picot Agreement to deal with the situations in certain Arab states and lead to the unfortunate redrawing of the world map.

“However, we hope this will not happen, but it is needless to say all of signs on the ground show that the Arab world will be a victim of big events in the aftermath of political process happening in the United Nations concerning Libya, since we see the failure to reach a political agreement, because some of the Libyan parties are still opposing the agreement.

“In this connection, we elucidate that UN has actually reached an agreement to end the crisis but some Libyan parties don’t want the agreement to see the light of day because they fear this agreement shall result in them losing power which they currently cling on to.

“As a matter of fact, the basic problem of Libya rests in the intervention of some parties in the crisis and their support to some specific Libyan parties and this intervention impedes the efforts exerted by the United Nations.”

Also:

Mishref Eqab

“Turkey tried to brandish the security agreement with the internationally recognized Libyan National Accord government to activate diplomatic tracks to solve the crisis,” columnist Adel Abdullah Al-Mutairi wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“But the reaction of the other side Khalifa Haftar and his allies was to accelerate their attack on the city of Tripoli to resolve the conflict on the ground.

“Even the last diplomatic attempt by Turkey in partnership with Tunisia during Erdogan’s visit to his Tunisian counterpart, Qais Said, which resulted in the Tunisian presidency announcing its willingness to host new negotiations between the Libyan parties to reach a political solution and stop the civil war taking place there, the response of Haftar and his allies was one of skepticism and accused President Said of bias and demanded that Tunisia be neutral.

“But the question here is, isn’t the hosting of all of the Libyan struggling parties, represents per se a positive non-alignment or isn’t hosting all the conflicting Libyan parties positive neutrality, or do opponents of Tunisian efforts want Tunisia to commit to negative neutrality and not interfere with a diplomatic initiative to give Haftar and his forces enough time to destroy and occupy Tripoli and establish a military dictatorship on the ruins of Libya?

“As a matter of fact, the expected Turkish military intervention is escalating in Libyan civil war, since Turkey has come to support the legitimate government against the forces of Haftar which has the support of some foreign parties and still rejects to sit around a table of negotiations to be held under the UN auspices.

“This happens although Haftar’s forces, have repeatedly failed to storm Tripoli, in spite of the siege these forces imposed on this city since last April and until now, given the fact that this failure can be attributed to strong resistance that has been shown by the troops of the legitimate government which has the support and cooperation of the people and this has resulted in Haftar’s repeated attempts to failure although he had sought the help of Russian mercenaries.”

“The region is going through unstable circumstances that make it necessary for us all to be vigilant and proactive with a great deal of national responsibility”, Dr Hamad Mohammad Al-Matar wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“Needless to say, the homelands grow up with their children who strengthen and fortify their national unity. The regional circumstances surrounding us do not call for a lot of pessimism but Kuwait remains a right over every citizen in these troubling circumstances, while the least expectation is not to spread rumors or seek excitement and escalation of matters. Our national unity is our true fence, so we all have to be proactive participants in everything that supports and protects the country from home and abroad.

“We call on the government and all officials to work in unison to establish a permanent crisis and disaster management apparatus that will assume the tasks of dealing with emergency events in all their forms, which includes earthquakes, floods and wars- in terms of preparation and rehabilitation or dealing with crises and their consequences.

“We call on every citizen to cooperate with the competent authorities to participate in everything this country and society needs, and to strive to volunteer everywhere that needs his help. The Kuwaiti people have always proven their readiness to volunteer. Environmental volunteering as well as search and rescue initiatives is known at the local level. Volunteer initiatives outside Kuwait are many, including Kuwaiti doctors volunteering to treat Syrian brothers with the help of other volunteer teams.

“There is no doubt that Kuwaiti youth are able today to form a wide volunteer team, which includes all specializations the Kuwaiti society needs to become effective counterparts in addition to the official institutions. It includes multidisciplinary teams, medical, relief and rescue teams, in addition to the teams dealing with emergencies and crises such as earthquakes, rains, environmental crises, etc. They must be ready around the clock.

“We call upon officials to support all voluntary initiatives in Kuwait and invite our youth and everyone who finds himself capable and willing to form a permanent volunteer team that can unite all existing volunteer initiatives and teams. Kuwait deserves all of us to be ready to deal with every new case of emergencies. Finally, we ask God Almighty to protect Kuwait and keep us safe from crises and conflicts that surround us”.

“The League of Arab States includes all Arab countries under the ceiling of its membership without declaring unity among the members of this entity which was established many decades ago, yet the Arab citizen does not feel the results of summits held during those years,” columnist Abdulaziz Al-Tamimi wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“This opened the door to outsiders who are distant geographically, who were or are in the neighborhood through penetration between our countries and domination of the capabilities of our people who complain about foreign excesses in our internal affairs, or the constant incitement of those parties for negative Arab powers to destroy our homes and harm Arabs.

“We, the six Arab Gulf states, adhere to the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Arab League as a nucleus can be developed into a comprehensive unity that includes all Arab countries to counter the brute forces hoping evil to befall upon us.

“Now is the time to conclude a unitary cooperation deal with three Arab countries joining the Gulf Cooperation Council, namely Egypt, Jordan and Morocco because these countries have positive elements in agreement with the political, social, administrative and financial views of the GCC countries with the necessity of forming a unified army under the command of the General Secretariat of the GCC states and setting a special budget for this important sector.

“Powers are distributed to all countries of the newly established Arab Union and depend on setting up food and medicine factories which are present but need to expand and develop to cover the needs of the peoples of the union to be self-sufficient in parallel with the establishment of military factories to develop weapons and prepare armies of nations able to fend off any attack without relying on others.

“This is the wish of all Arabs, beginning with the GCC countries and three Arab countries in the hope of expanding the circle of unity with the conditions and controls set by the leaders, may God protect them.”

“The conditions witnessed in the region require all the patriots of this country—they are the vast majority—to uphold cohesion and confidence in the state apparatus and be aware that we are not a party in the events happening outside our borders”, Lieutenant General Tareq Hamada wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“Indeed, we are close to the ongoing regional brawls but wisdom requires distancing ourselves and taking into consideration the fact that the positions taken by some contradict the state policy, and those with such negative views are entitled to their opinion. In such tense situations, we should avoid spreading information that is not documented and not issued by official authorities.

“In such extremely sensitive and critical times, we notice rumors are being spread for specific goals, and may be repeated by simple and ignorant people without ill intent. However, they are inevitably spread by people who have specific goals, who understand and know the aim behind such rumors. Often, the goals of these individuals are malicious.

“Rumors and fabricated news pose a great threat to the stability of the state and the security of its apparatus. They create a state of confusion in society, and also constitute an additional burden on all state agencies. Hence, avoiding to spread lies denies those behind such malicious fake news the success of their plots.

“How do we face the rumors? Which bodies are mandated with such task? Ministry of Interior and the criminal security sector are thankfully chasing the sources of these rumors and referring them to the judiciary. Considering what Ministry of Interior is doing, there is a role that is not less important than the security role. It is the role of people of Kuwait in deliberating and verifying any news content they receive before reposting it.”

“The file of terrorism and the war against it is one of the most important files discussed in all gatherings, both international and regional. The whole world seeks to limit the terrorist actions, ideas and methodology which have been transmitted from society to society and from one continent to another,” Mohammad Saleh Al-Sabti wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“The challenge facing the Gulf States is not only security, but intellectual, which has more priority than security. The most challenging aspect is its definition, given that every mindset gives it a different definition. We pride ourselves on our stand against terrorism and our fight against it, while others boast of acts of murder and violence!

“Another challenge is the intellectual challenge facing our societies in terms of defining the concept of freedom. Are there absolute freedoms, or is all freedom bound by the laws that operate in these countries? This concept today faces great absurdity with unusual hypotheses calling for absolute freedoms, without limit and restrictions. Such ideas are among the most dangerous diseases in the societies.

“While it is important to confront terrorism and terrorists securely, facing them intellectually is the most important thing. I strongly believe in protecting our societies from being affected by this incurable disease, especially the one that stems from intellectual deficiency in tackling issues.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb