Diplomatic Chief Warns EU Sidelined in Spiralling Libya Conflict
The EU's diplomatic chief has admitted the bloc is struggling to influence the Libyan conflict and has left Russia and Turkey free to step in and dominate the Mediterranean.
Josep Borrell told the European Parliament the EU had hamstrung itself by its dogmatic attachment to the idea there could be "no military solution" to the Libyan conflict.
And he warned there was no guarantee of success for a German-led summit called for Sunday between the two main warring Libyan parties along with 11 countries and several international organisations.
The EU is seeking to boost its influence on the geopolitical stage, but it is held back by internal divisions and a lack of tools other than diplomacy.
It has no military force under its command and agreeing and then imposing economic sanctions is a lengthy process.
"We Europeans, since we don't want to participate in a military solution, we barricade ourselves in the belief there is no military solution," Borrell said late on Tuesday.
"In Syria it has been a military solution, brought by the Turks and the Russians, and this has changed the equilibrium on the eastern part of the Mediterranean."
- Sahel fears -
Ankara has sent troops to support Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, while Moscow is backing rival strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Borrell warned there could be a repeat of the Syria outcome in Libya.
"This is something that should be of very much worry to all of us, because I'm sure nobody will be very happy if on the Libyan coast there is a ring of military bases from the Russian and Turkish navy in front of the Italian coast," he said.
Such an outcome would mean that Turkey and Russia would in effect control both the major routes used by irregular migrants into Europe -- through the eastern and central Mediterranean, he added.
Haftar and his allies were in Moscow on Monday for discussions with the GNA but he left without signing a permanent truce -- Russia, however, claimed that he had agreed to maintain the current ceasefire.
The Moscow meeting and Sunday's gathering in Berlin raised hopes of an end to the latest fighting to wrack Libya since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Borrell warned that Libya was becoming "a kind of cancer that is metastasising to the Sahel" with arms and fighters from Libya spreading south.
Source: Agence France Presse
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