We are witnessing a current state of affairs in Libya that continues to abate the quest for lasting peace and prosperity for the good people of the North African jewel. I say jewel because Libya is genuinely a beautiful country with 1,900 kilometers of undeveloped pristine Mediterranean paradise, rich in agriculture planted by Alexander III and lavish spa resorts built by Roman General Marcus Antonius and fought over by Field Marshall Rommel and Field Marshall Montgomery in WWII. Since before the revolution and following, Libyans, being more Phoenician than Arab, from all tribes, have seen their lands assaulted by foreign governments. Libyans have so far admired, trusted, and held great hopes that one day their deliverance of independence from internal social strife and oppressive tyranny would arrive by western cultures having a civil standard above and beyond reproach. Sadly, this has not been the case; hence, their trust in the international community has eroded significantly.
It is incumbent upon us to recognize how we’ve arrived at this juncture. External forces are at the heart of Libya’s chaos that began to unravel in 2009. After the end of 25 years of a UN-imposed embargo, the former regime welcomed significant investments from all over the world. The GCC, led by Abu Dhabi via ADIA and Emirates Holdings invested north of €20 billion in tourism, housing, hospitality, and resource husbandry. Kuwait's Al Kharafi Group, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia soon followed with billions more.
By 2010 the dissent into disorder and mismanagement began to infest the central leadership structure, leaving Libya open to disharmony with the Arab League. King Abdullah had a significant change of heart in furthering the KSA’s political support, followed by Qatar’s total land grab of Libya’s vast cachés of iron ore to feed their massive steel production in the Gulf’s explosive development. These occurrences and more were accelerating Russia’s outlying fixation for geopolitical and geo-economic terraforming and in continuing the expansionary goals of the former Soviet trajectory of Europe’s total domination in energy consumption.
In 2019, the defiant Tobruk government turned over the counterfeit printing of the eastern Dinar to Russia in direct conflict with the Libyan Dinar printed in the U.K. by Her Majesty’s Crown Agents. Russian naval vessels have been a regular sight in Libya’s eastern waters near Cyrene, and Russian arms shipments have been standard. Russia’s objective of asserting control in Libya’s energy infrastructure has been custom-tailored also to fit the needs of KSA, Abu Dhabi and Qatar in avoiding any displacement of products into the E.U. markets as a long-term strategy.
When the U.S. and U.K. failed to respond to Tripoli's multiple urgent requests for military support during General Haftar’s invasion of the Western provinces, the Tripoli-based government reached across the Mediterranean to Turkey for help. Naturally, eyeing multiple layers of possible access to Libyas vast resource riches, Turkey heeded the call to opportunity. Funded by Qatari loans, Turkey's military machine provided the support the Tripoli militia needed to prevent Haftar from gaining the ground he sought and ultimately failed to obtain.
It's payback time. Hence, today, we are witnessing a contemporary version of the age-old spoils of war. Turkey has been broadening its foreign policy and expansion scope in the Mediterranean, particularly around energy exploration in Cyprus and Crete. However, there are a number of other nation-states Libyan supporters who may not be as enthusiastic to see Turkey waltz into exploration protocols and production-sharing agreements without going through the standard practices of the public tender process.
The signing of numerous preliminary economic agreements on Monday emphasized the strong connections between Ankara and Tripoli, which paved the way for oil and gas exploration in Libyan seas. At a signing ceremony held in Tripoli, Foreign Ministers Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu of Turkey and Najla Mangoush of Libya announced mutually beneficial agreements between their nations. The agreement between Turkish and Libyan companies to extract hydrocarbons from waters within Libya's territorial waters and from its landmass was recognized by Çavuşoğlu.
Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush of the Government of National Unity of Libya called the new agreement essential, citing the Ukrainian crisis and its implications on energy markets. Diplomatic sources indicated that there were strong responses both inside and outside of Libya. Furthermore, the current accord was also deemed unacceptable by a rival authority in Libya’s eastern, war-torn region. When describing the new deal, Çavuşoğlu stressed that it was between two sovereign countries and that no approved third party was considered.
The signing comes three years after Greece and Cyprus were disturbed by a maritime border deal, when Turkey inked a contentious security deal with the UN-recognized government of Libya, staking claim to large, possibly gas-rich portions of the Mediterranean. That deal was reached during a critical period in a year-long war between rival governments to control Libya's capital. It wasn't long after that the introduction of Turkish drones was seen as pivotal to the victory of Tripoli-based soldiers over eastern military ruler Khalifa Haftar, who was backed at the time by Egypt, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Even though the last major conflict ended two years ago, Turkey still plays a pivotal role in the western area of Libya, where rival governments are once again competing for control. Since March, a government chosen by the Libyan parliament in the east has been trying to take office in Tripoli, but they haven't been able to do so far. The deal reached on Monday was rejected by both the parliamentary speaker and the head of the opposition government.
Since NATO-backed rebels overthrew Muammar Gadhafi in 2011 and launched more than a decade of turmoil in Libya, the country has been in disarray. There are dozens of armed organizations vying for control, all of which are aided by various nations, mainly Russia and their Wagner Group. The Speaker of the Libyan Parliament, Aguila Salah, who is viewed as an ally of Egypt, has stated that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is unlawful since it was signed by a government that lacked a mandate, and the administration of former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha has committed to utilizing the courts to annul the MOU.
For starters, the Minister of Petroleum was ousted when he raised objections to the final form of the memorandum. Then, the minister in charge of signing on behalf of the Government of National Unity was in South Africa, so the Libyan minister of economy secured the required authority and signed on behalf of the government. In a lengthy statement late on Monday, the Libyan House of Representatives president and the committee in charge of the country's energy and natural resources responded strongly that the national unity government no longer has the authority to enter into international agreements because its mandate has expired. Egypt also openly questioned the validity of Monday's memorandum.
As a final note, the sources pointed to a statement by E.U. High Representative Josep Borrell, the E.U.'s head of diplomacy, in which he referred to the European Council's conclusions in December 2019 about the unlawful and invalid basis of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum. A diplomatic source cautioned that Greece should not ease its vigilance despite the positive advances. Nikos Dendias, Greece's foreign minister, will visit Cairo to have an in-depth conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, and to continue briefings of ambassadors of the U.N. Security Council. On Tuesday, he was able to brief a delegation of U.S. Representatives led by Chairman Adam Smith, from the House Armed Services Committee, who was visiting Greece on the full extent of the Turkish provocation, complete with pertinent maps.
Since 2003, Brightside Industries principals have established valued associations with senior leadership in Libya. In 2005 Brightside led the effort to successfully end the U.N.-backed embargo on Libya. In 2013, Brightside leadership, under contract to the Supreme Council of Libyan Tribes and Cities for all 1400 Tribal leaders, worked collectively to design and develop a national rebuilding program and strategic governance plan after the ravaging effects of years of civil war. On December 5, 2015, independent of and without the aid of the U.S. and the U.N. 40 member nations Security Council, Brightside successfully negotiated and drafted the Declaration of Principles Agreement to Resolve the Libyan Crisis signed by Ibrahim Ameish, Chairman delegation of the House of Representatives and Awad Mohamed Abdussadiq, head of delegation of General National Congress. Brightside worked together with both opposing houses, under the framework of the Libyan-Libyan Dialogue, explicitly to establish a government of national unity upon the principles of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill’s 1941 Act of the Right of Nations to Self-determination, which states that nations based on respect for the opinion of equal rights and fair equality of opportunity have the right to choose their sovereignty freely and international political status with no external compulsion or interference. Sadly, there is still a long road ahead.
We want to see the good people of Libya thrive regardless of external political forces independently on their own accord yet serving the prosperous Mediterranean economy as a respected member as an unencumbered nation-state. Libyan’s have not seen true independence since before the era of King Idris. It is high time this new generation of free Libyan’s experience freedom as that of their forefathers, on their own terms, on the winds of peaceful change.
~ Christopher Harriman, President and CEO - Brightside Industries Group, LLC
~ Anne Charman, Vice President Market Research - Brightside Industries Group, LLC
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