Since the 16th of this month, the riots and bloodshed in Libya have continued to escalate. The high number of deaths and the severity of the violence have triggered emergency meetings of the League of Arab States and the United Nations Security Council to urge immediate End the atrocities and gradually address the legitimate demands of the people.
As for the reasons for the unrest in the country, it is generally believed that it is mainly due to the autocratic rule of President Muammar Gaddafi and the recent wave of protests sweeping the Middle East. But in fact, the divisions the country is sinking into have deeper roots.
Libya was once an Italian colony. During the Italian colonial period, Libya consisted of three autonomous states. The eastern region and Benghazi are largely autonomous.
According to the Wall Street Journal, after taking power in a military coup in 1969, Gaddafi relied on force to unify the country. He also moved the capital to Tripoli, shifting Libya's political center of gravity westward. The regime has largely ignored the east, even though much of Libya's oil wealth is there.
The report believes that Gaddafi used tribal disputes to maintain his rule to a certain extent and promoted his tribe to key security positions and decision-making positions. He also succeeded in inhibiting the growth of other centers of political power by regularly reshuffling the entire government so that potential political opponents would lose their support base or prestige. As a manifestation of his Islamic revolutionary ideology, he also nationalized all private enterprises in the 1980s.
The Reuters commentary believes that Gaddafi’s 40-year leadership of Libya has not made this country a people’s country. On the contrary, Libya is currently one of the countries with the most serious corruption problems in the world. As a country that accounts for 2% of global crude oil production, the oil wealth created by Libya has not benefited its 6 million people.
According to Libyan insiders, Gaddafi's own tribe "Gadhafa" controls part of the armed forces and they spent several years destroying the bases of his rival "Warfalla" . Warfara was once considered the largest tribal confederation in the country, but that is a thing of the past.
Now, at a time when Libya's political loyalties are being severely tested, many tribes that were once ignored or oppressed by Gaddafi are turning against him. Several tribal leaders in Warfara have appeared recently and called on people to overthrow Gaddafi. The Al-Zawiya tribe from eastern Libya also joined the demonstrators over the weekend, with one leader threatening to cut off vital oil supplies if Gaddafi remains in power.
In fact, continued conflict and the possibility of civil war have spooked the global oil market, with international oil prices jumping to the highest level in more than two years. According to foreign analysis, the unrest in Libya will affect the entire Mediterranean economy, and Italy, its former colonial ruler, will bear the brunt of the impact.
Currently, Libyan Interior Minister Obeidi and Justice Minister Yali have announced their resignations from the government led by Gaddafi. Obeidi also called on the army to support the opposition and fulfill "citizens' legal obligations." In addition, at least seven Libyan ambassadors abroad resigned in protest of the killings at home, and some senior diplomats called on Gaddafi to step down.