Failed State: "NATO left Libya in Choas"
Libya three years after the 2011 Feb 17th Revolution that overthrew and later killed the former Libyan leader Maumar Gaddhafi, has been left in chaos in a literal sense. For the record, Gaddafi had warned NATO and the wider world that Libya would unravel and the Takfiri/Al Qaeda and other ISIS inspired groups would come out of the wood work if the Libyan government was overthrown. Since his death, Gaddafi is still blamed posthumously for Libya's current political and social fracaso in Spanish failure. The comparison between Libya and Somalia are true with the exception that Libya went from being Africa's most developed country that was relatively safe despite Gaddafi's heavy state security to a militia ruled politically unstable nation. It would seem nothing united all the various militias more than getting rid of Gaddafi. The majority of the Libyan revolution turned NATO bombing and war was built around Gaddafi's departure. Once Gaddafi was gone, the militias refused to give up their weapons and felt entitled to enjoy the spoils of the war as the official revolutionary groups fighting against despised Libyan Jamihuriya. The militias from Misrata, Benghazi, Tripoli, Zliten, Zawura, Nafusa Mountains, etc went on their vengeance against Libyans who were seen as beneficiaries of the late Libyan government's favoritism and disproportionate infrastructure development. Sirte was bombed back to the stone age resembling Gaza or 1995 Grozny, Chechnya in the aftermath of Russia's bombardment of the Chechen capital to halt separatists. The city of Tawergha home to 30,000 darker skinned Libyans were condemned as pro Gaddafi soldiers responsible for Misrata's destruction during the battle for Misrata between the Libyan national army and Misrata militia that turned the city into a brief ghost town. Tawergha, a small town located some twenty miles south of the coastal city of Misrata was ethnically cleansed by the Misrata miltia in 2011. The Tawerghans have not been allowed to return to their home town to even collect their properties, personal items or documents. They remain both iternally displaced and refugees in their own country. The current Libyan government whose rule is only affected in Tripoli and ignored by 200,000 strong militia members across the country, has done little to address the Tawerghans or halt further displaced of Libyans from Tripoli or other towns.
Migration by boat to Europe
Over a 1 million foreign workers and migrants worked in Libya prior 2011 Libyan war. The migrant workers represented countries from across the globe: Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, North Korea, China, Egypt, Japan, Yugoslavia and Russia. When the war began in Libya many of these workers were evacuated by their home countries' embassies. Many more workers had to rush over to the Libyan-Tunisian border for safety. African migrant workers were not as fortunate to be hurriedly evacuated by their governments or embassies. African countries Algeria and Niger opened their borders to fleeing Gaddafi family members who were later turned over to the militia groups among them Saadi Gaddaffi and his brother Saif al Islam now on trial in Libya. Many migrants who could not leave Libya remained hidden in abandoned buildings or in their former work dormitories. Many African migrant workers were accused of being so called African mercenaries that the mainstream media conjured up the image of stereotypical African mercenary causing chaos and destruction in the country. Once the war ebbed, African migrants were able to move around Tripoli and Benghazi without the fear of aerial bombings but faced a new problem. Militiamen continue to harass and extort money from them. Some migrants have since been deported from Libya under the current government to curb the flow of illegal migrant workers who were smuggled into Libya from neighboring countries of Egypt, Niger, Sudan, etc. Thousands of migrants who escaped deportation cram onto rickety boats bound for Europe on weekly basis. Migrants have paid thousands for human smugglers who often beat, rape and threaten migrant workers both men, women and even children to earn a passage aboard boats leaving from Libya and Tunisia headed across the Mediterranean Sea to the refuge of Fortress Europe. Despite violence and threats of death from smugglers, sea and indifferent border officials, the migrants who successfully land in Lampedusa and Sicily as well as Greece face immediate dention and the EU's grueling strict processing system for migrants full of loops and red tape. Some 25,000 migrants landed in Sicily from January to April 2014 alone. Hundreds more come from across Africa and the Middle East ie Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to begin their journey in Libya and Tunisia escaping persecution of every kind from ethnic to religious to cultural, political and economic instability, lack of healthy living environment for the children, unemployment with hope finding work once abroad. Despite the economic recession and financial crisises that continue to drain many Western countries. migrants both legal and illegal continue to cross the waterways that easily allow safe passage for products from around the world but not for human beings. The migrants ironically are follow the migration route out of Africa to Europe by human ancestors some millions of years ago and route taken by refugees fleeing the Crusades in Palestine during 12th century.
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