Tri-Service
Plan To Send 1,000 British Troops To Libya A 'Disaster'
Libya is in a state of civil war.
Since Operation Ellamy in 2011, which ousted dictator Col Gaddafi, two elections have left two separate groups claiming to be the legitimate government.
They've been battling each other for more than a year.
Neither wants to concede authority to the United Nations-backed Unity Government.
Seven members of that council have just arrived in Tripoli by sea, after they were blocked from arriving at the country's airports.
They've set up a temporary seat of power at a naval base protected by battle-hardened militias.
They could now request help with security from their backers in the West.
Muammar Gaddafi at the twelfth African Union conference in 2009
That could mean a European force of 6,000 troops, on the ground, securing a Tripoli “green zone” to protect the Unity Government.
Up to 1,000 of those troops could be British.
Chairman of the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Crispin Blunt MP, has criticised that plan, saying it would be a “disaster”, and would be seen by Libyans as Western intervention.
He told the Daily Telegraph that British soldiers would be “sitting targets” for Islamic State fighters and other extremists, adding “everybody and their mother will be trying to have a pop at them.”
Former UK ambassador to Libya, Oliver Miles, says he's right.
And he says international plans to create a Baghdad-style green zone in the centre of Tripoli could backfire.
“I agree they would be a target for the extremists, but the trouble is it would cause more Libyans to side with Daesh.”
"At the moment Daesh are not at all popular, they've had a rough time, they've been driven out of one of the cities which was regarded as the main centre of Islamic extremism in Libya.
"People there had no time for Daesh at all, but if they were seen to be under attack from foreigners, there would be a tendency for more Libyans to join them."
If that's the case, then instead of improving security, Western boots on the ground could in fact make the situation much worse.
But it seems no firm decision on a possible deployment has yet been made.
In a statement, the MoD said all its planning has focussed on training the Libyan Security Forces to provide their own security to the government and the people.
It went on to say “no decisions have been made about the future deployment of any British military forces”.
Oliver Miles says whatever happens, the west should resist rushing in.
“We have to be patient, we have to hold our nerve.”
“We have to wait until the Libyans have sorted out the question of their government and help them to do that by all means in any way we can, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to hold our nerve because there's a real threat from Daesh in Libya.”“What I dread is that there might be some atrocity mounted from Libya in Europe, and that would make it increasingly difficult for European governments to continue to hold their nerve.”
For the time being though, all eyes are on the new Unity Government, and whether it will actually be able to govern.
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