Things aren’t looking good for Libya. Despite the western hype. Mere days after French President Emmanuel Macron had his Man of Peace moment under the global spotlight — securing a joint statement (hold your excitement, please) by Libya’s two largest warring factions to agree to a ceasefire — it was more or less all over. One side chose to brandish guns, storming the headquarters of the constitution drafting assembly — demanding it withdraw the country’s recently approved draft constitution. These were said to be General Khalifa Hatfar’s men. The latter enjoys backing from Egypt, the UAE and, reportedly, most of the French military. This strongman of eastern Libya, as he is deferentially known, has also talked tough to the Italians, threatening to use force to repel the latter’s naval vessels entering Libyan waters. The good general is also said to be trying to woo a certain Vladimir Putin. On the other side, by comparison cutting perhaps a rather less dashing figure, stands Prime Minister Faiez Serraj. He is referred to as the West’s man in Tripoli. Whether this is an indication of deference or not, we cannot possibly say. What we would like to say is that it is not for us to take sides in what really should be an internal matter for the Libyans to decide. Except that it isn’t. The western military intervention put paid to that. Therefore what we say is that we stand with the Libyan people. We stand with them against last week’s most recent display of calculated callous western caprice. How many times must we stand here today as we did yesteryear? The spectacle on show at Paris was the latest in pantomime manoeuvrings of the he’s-behind-you variety that recasts by their own hand and script western military aggressors as benevolent peacemaker. Who with one hand is willing to sticky tape together the remnants of a decimated nation — while with the other it holds the still warm barrel of a gun, not quite having had time to return it to its holster. Yes, we have been here before. In Afghanistan. In Iraq. It appears to be the endgame in Syria, this move to install a puppet and leave the strings uncut. We have also borne witness to the ensuing chaos once the puppet moves to become the master. We have been here before with Hamid Karzai. Even with Hosni Mubarak, and more recently with his freely elected successor. And so is it in Libya today. Where both sides are to accept the ceasefire, hosted the country that dropped the first bomb. Where another European nation – Britain, which still trades on its long expired image of fair play — may or may not have closed the lid on its ‘open door’ policy on Libya, a reckless move that has sought to ensure that the right kind of rebels fly the flag for NATO. So, no. We won’t be neutral on Libya. We still very firmly stand with the Libyan people. And NATO be damned. * Published in Daily Times, August 4th 2017.