There are fears that the instability in Libya will only get worse and it is leaving the country’s head of the national oil corporation to beg Western powers to protect Libya from becoming the “new Syria”.
Mustafa Sanalla hopes the United States, France and the UK can fend off what he calls foreign powers with interest in Libya.
Although Sanalla did not mention the names of the countries he believes are destabilizing his country, warring factions have been backed by certain countries.
The government of national unity has the backing of Qatar and Turkey after being legitimized by the United Nations.
Forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar are being supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt as well as Russia.
Sanalla’s hopes of a Western coalition to save Libya are not shared by many Africans and certianly not Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Museveni regretted Africa’s failure to militarily defend Libya against what he felt was an invasion by the very countries Sanalla appealed to.
“We should have intervened. We tried diplomatically but we could have intervened even militarily. Africa should have intervened and taught those people (attackers) a lesson. Libya was an African country being attacked by foreign powers,” said Museveni.
“We were not prepared and we have not had time because we have been scattered but the potential is there. If Africa wants to chase the invaders, we can chase them. We defeated the Portuguese, the Boers who were backed by all sorts of foreigners,” he continued.
