ANC YOUTH LEAGUE STATEMENT ON LIBYA AND IMPERIALIST INTERFERENCES.
11 March 2011
The African National Congress Youth League condemns in the strongest possible terms the disproportionate and lethal use of violence by the Libyan government on its own citizens. We call for the immediate cessation of hostilities, and resumption of national dialogue aimed at securing a peaceful transition and upholding the sovereignty of the Libyan state.
We have noted with grave concern the increasingly hypocritical and belligerent posturing emanating from the United States and Europe Union powers. We reject any foreign military intervention on Libyan soil, as we are fully cognisant that those calling for such an intervention have a history of bloodletting and criminality.
We suspect that the real reason for the threats of military intervention is Libya's vast energy resources. Prior to the civil unrest, Libya had just overtaken Saudi Arabia as the third largest supplier of oil to Europe behind Norway and Russia. 79% of Libya's oil goes to the EU, making Europe Libya's biggest customer.
Italy imported 32 percent of Libya's oil, Germany 14 percent and France 10 percent. Some 23 percent goes to the rest of Europe. BP (Britain), Total (France), ENI (Italy), Statoil (Norway), Repsol (Spain), OVM (Austria) are among European multinational corporations that have been making fabulous profits from Libya's oil and have made extensive investments in the country.
In the meantime, the fundamental factors gripping the region remain unresolved- high unemployment among the youth, underdevelopment, widespread poverty, thieving leaders in concert with rapacious elites and foreign domination of local economies. We encourage the democratization process driven by young people sweeping through North Africa and the Middle East. It is the responsibility of the citizens of this region to determine their own futures, not foreign powers with profit motives.
We thus reject the counterproductive diplomatic recognition by France of the unelected opposition based in Benghazi. The French government of President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday extended official diplomatic recognition to the so-called Libyan Interim Transitional National Council, the first outside government to do so.
These aggressive and unilateral interventions into Libyan affairs comes amid planning in Washington, Brussels, and at the UN Security Council of how to force the collapse of the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi. There is discussion of air strikes, no-fly zones, and other military measures aiming to install a client government in Tripoli friendly to transnational oil companies and the strategic interests of the western powers.
The opposition in Libya has not tested its popularity through a democratic process, thus we are baffled by the haste with which the West has been eager to embrace them. The leading figures of the ‘opposition' are former senior members of Gaddafi's regime, who are opportunistically hijacking a genuine popular movement. The National Council represents a section of the Libyan ruling elite that, from the very beginning of the uprising, rushed to hijack and pre-empt the unfolding revolt. For this layer, ousting Gaddafi is a means to promote its own political and economic interests.
There are no legal bases for the proposed NATO intervention in the Libyan conflict. The military intervention would only serve to broaden the already volatile situation, deepen the humanitarian crisis, and undermine Libya's sovereignty. It will be a declaration of war, not only on Libya, but on the African continent. We thus urge the African Union (AU) to categorically reject any foreign intervention in the Libyan conflict, and for the body to take decisive steps to ameliorate the rapidly declining situation.
Statement issued by the ANC Youth League, March 11 2011
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