Ever since Muammar Gaddafi was deposed, Libya has never been the same. There has been more destruction, and peace is seemingly still out of reach for the Libyans. Life has increasingly become worse, and the killing of Gaddafi solved nothing, except to aggravate things.
Western forces were behind the toppling of Gaddafi, a feat they vehemently celebrated at the time, but are now mum about it seeing how that solved nothing. They collaborated to bring him down, but only worsening things in the process.
Italian defence minister, Elisabetta Trenta said that France is to partly blame for the ongoing crisis in Libya, and she also ruled out any form of Italian military intervention in the country. She asserts that the combined military intervention in 2011, in which France partook, contributed directly to the mess that is prevailing in the North African country.
"France, from my point of view, has a responsibility," the minister wrote on Facebook, evoking the military intervention in 2011 by France and other nations against the regime of Libya’s then leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"It is clearly now undeniable that this country (Libya) finds itself in this situation because someone, in 2011, put their own interests ahead of those of the Libyan people and of Europe itself," the minister said. "France, from this point of view, is partly to blame," Trenta added.
From this, it is clear that she is of the thinking that the powers in the West put their interests above everything else and in doing so brought more misery and crisis to Libya.
Before the defence minister had said this, Italy's speaker of Parliament, Roberto Fico called the situation in Libya "a serious problem which France has left us". Concerted efforts are needed to save the situation in Libya, according to what Trenta suggested.
Fighting between rival militia groups in Libya has been intensifying, especially in the southern suburbs of Tripoli, the country's capital. There has been a failed ceasefire in the country. It had been suggested that Italy send some troops, but this is a possibility which Trenta has strongly ruled out.
The Libyan capital has been at the centre of a battle for influence between armed groups since the ouster and killing of dictator Gaddafi in 2011. The United Nations mission to Libya (UNSMIL) has invited the "various Libyan parties" to Tuesday talks for "urgent dialogue" as reported by AFP.
Trenta's comments on the crisis in Libya reveal how European powers, often in association with the United States, dictate how things should go in Africa without a single thought of the ramifications which their actions will leave behind.
Header image credit: RFI