On March 19th, 2011, ten years ago today, the United States and NATO began its war against Libya.
Launched on the pretext of defending “democracy” and “human rights,” the war resulted in the obliteration of what had been the country with the highest per capita income and most developed social infrastructure on the African continent.
Eight months of continuous bombing laid waste to entire cities and huge chunks of the country, while the US and the European powers provided weapons and funding to Al Qaeda-linked militias as their proxy ground troops in a war for regime-change that ended in the torture and murder of Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi.
Today, the devastating results of this war are stark. Libya has been transformed from the most prosperous country in the region to a living hell for its people. Tens of thousands of innocent civilians were killed in the war from bombing and thousands more have died over the ensuing decade, during which the country has been subjected to uninterrupted violence at the hands of rival militias backed by foreign powers. All the while basic requirements of human life go unmet. Absolutely nothing that was obliterated in the war has been even partially rebuilt.
The capital Tripoli and other cities are regularly plunged into blackouts, and there are severe fuel shortages. This is in a country with the largest oil reserves in all of Africa. According to official figures, more than one third of the population lives below the poverty line of less than two dollars a day, as the collapse of the Libyan currency, the dinar, and soaring inflation have left many without the means to obtain sufficient food. Access to clean water is also limited. Last year saw the already ravaged Libyan economy plummet by 66.7 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Once boasting the most advanced public health system in the region, Libya’s hospitals and clinics still lie in ruins today as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads throughout the country. Thus far, there has not been a single vaccination in Libya.The country has also become the most violent center of human trafficking on the planet, with desperate refugees imprisoned, murdered, tortured, raped and literally bought and sold by rival militia factions, which seek to extract ransoms from their families. Many of those who manage to escape Libya end up drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.