PRESS RELEASE
Obama Launches New Destabilization of North Africa
April 26, 2016 (EIRNS)—In an orchestrated move, the so-called new Libyan government led by Fayez al-Serraj has asked the UN for foreign help just as Obama and the four other stooges (Francois Hollande, David Cameron, Angela Merkel, and Matteo Renzi) were going to meet in Hannover. The plan for a NATO intervention in Libya is long ready, missing only the fig leaf of a call by the "legitimate government."
Before Serraj’s call, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the Sunday Telegraph that he could not rule out sending troops to Libya if requested to do so by the Libyan government.
As the Italian daily La Repubblica correctly puts it,
"There are all the elements for a new phase of the civil war in Libya, this time with a government (the Tripoli government) which de facto has been created and is being recognized by the United Nations."
The other faction is the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army led by General Haftar and backed by Egypt’s el-Sisi government. The Tobruk-based Parliament has not yet recognized the Serraj government. Thus, there is now an international coalition backing one faction against the other faction backed by Egypt. Related to this scenario is the British campaign to split Italy from Egypt using the murder in Cairo of Italian student Giulio Regeni (see accompanying slug).
According to Italian media, Serraj called Italian Prime Minister Renzi before the G5 meeting in Hannover, asking for help "to protect oil fields." This apparently concerns oil fields in the "oil crescent" in the eastern part of Libya where, however, General Haftar’s forces are preparing an offensive aimed at taking control of those fields. Haftar has recently received large military equipment supplies from the United Arab Emirates and is said to be preparing a major offensive against the Islamic State.
Furthermore, Bloomberg reported that the Tobruk authorities have succeeded in selling oil, accusing them of violating a ban imposed by the National Oil Company and by a UN resolution. Tripoli has already declared the sale as illegal.
The first step of foreign "aid" will not be direct military intervention, but military training and coastal patrols to stop refugee boats. Obama promised that the U.S. Navy will be part of the patrols. Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said on April 24 that a NATO patrol mission will start in three months. But everybody expects that Serraj will soon ask for more "help." Italy will send 250 "instructors." Adding pressure on the Italians, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated that the IS has sleeper cells in Italy, planning a terror attack.
