FALTADO, JEANETTE E.

AB POLITICAL SCIENCE

Libya: Pushing For Peace

“In order to attain growth and prosperity, peace is of the most important essence…”

Why? Because only peace can make the people united as one and achieve every goal the people desire for their country together.

I stand here in front of you in behalf of my countrymen to further discuss our deep concern in our country to ask for help in order to attain what our country mostly need to have. But before anything else I would like to share the brief history to where the problem has began.

My country has been buttered by unending and continuous war which really started from the Arab Spring protests against the government and the reigning of Col. Muammar Gaddafi that led to the First Libyan Civil War. It was between the people against Gaddafi and pro Gaddafi fought which then caused many casualties among the civilians of Libya.

The history of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi spanned a period of over four decades

from 1969 to 2011. Gaddafi became the de facto leader of our country on 1 September

1969 after leading a group of young Libyan military officers against King Idris I in

a bloodless coup d'état. After the king had fled the country, the Libyan Revolutionary

Command Council (RCC) headed by Gaddafi abolished the monarchical form of

government of Libya and the old constitution and proclaimed the new Libyan African

Republic, with the motto "freedom, socialism, and unity"

After coming to power, the RCC government initiated a process of directing funds

toward providing education, health care and housing for all. Despite the reforms not

being entirely effective, public education in the country became free. Medical care

became available to the public at no cost but providing housing for all was a task the

RCC government was not able to complete. Under Gaddafi, per capita income in the

country rose to more than US $11,000, the fifth highest in Africa. The increase in

prosperity was accompanied by a controversial foreign policy, with increased political

repression at home.

The reign of Col. Gaddafi was indeed good at first. However, many of our people saw what was really happening after being good at first. Col. Gaddafi became greed and corrupt in most of his political activities, that is why people had started to revolt and create groups of anti-Gaddafi forces.

In early 2011, a civil war broke out by "Arab Spring" protests against Gaddafi. The anti-Gaddafi forces formed a committee named the National Transitional Council, on 27 February 2011. It was meant to act as an interim authority in the rebel-controlled areas. After a number of atrocities were committed by the government with the threat of further bloodshed, a multinational coalition led by North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces intervened on 21 March 2011 with the aim to protect civilians against attacks by the government's forces  At the same time, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Gaddafi and his entourage on 27 June 2011. Gaddafi was ousted from power on 20 August 2011, although pockets of resistance held by forces loyal to Gaddafi's government held out for another two months, especially in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte. . The fall of the last remaining cities under pro-Gaddafi control and Sirte's capture on 20 October 2011 was then followed by the subsequent killing of Gaddafi that marked the end of the first war. But the aftermath of the war has not yet good to say so because those who are still loyal to Col. Gaddafi had not stopped to fight for themselves. This was so far resulted to violence and instability among the people of Libya and the whole country. And thus, led to the Second Libyan Civil War in which is sad to say until now is still onset.

Moreover, the is not just the problem because aside from this, there are four rival organizations that boosted seeking to control Libya. These four are the internationally recognized government of Council of Deputies and internationally known as the "Libyan Government". This government has the loyalty of the Libyan Army under the command of General officer Khalifa Haftar and has been supported by air strikes by Egypt and the UAE, the rival Islamist government of the new General National Congress led by the Muslim Brotherhood, backed by the wider Islamist coalition known as "Libya Dawn" and aided by Qatar, Sudan, and Turkey, the Islamist Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, led by Ansar al-Sharia (Libya). They have had the support of the New General National Congress and the unrecognised government in Tripoli led by former prime minister Omar Al-Hassi, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's Libyan provinces.

Now, the ongoing crisis in our country has so far resulted to tens of thousands of damages and casualties since the onset of violence in the early year of 2011.

I am addressing this to the United Nations to further give us assistance in our country most especially to our civilians there who are in most need of your guide. And, to also help our country achieve the realms of peace and stability.

So far, I have known some of the resolutions that UN had given to our country. Among those were the United Nations Security Council passed an initial resolution on 26 February, freezing the assets of Gaddafi and his inner circle and restricting their travel, and referred the matter to the International Criminal Court for investigation in that time before the assassination of Gaddafi, and on March 2011, a foreign military intervention had began in Libya to implement United Nation Security Council Resolution 1973. This was to haven immediate ceasefire in the country including an end to the current attacks against civilians which might constitute to a crime against humanity, imposing a ban on all flights in the country’s airspace which constitute to a no fy zone, and tightened sanctions on the Gaddafi regime and its supporters. These were before the assassination of Col. Gaddafi.

And also, we would like to thank the United Nations for the creation of the United Nations Support Mission In Libya or UNSMIL to help our country cope from the ruins and distractions that were caused by the Libyan Civil Wars.

As a chosen representative of my country, I will acknowledge some of the aims of the mission for our country that we all appreciated inasmuch as we really do. Some of which are to restore public security and order and promote the rule of law, undertake inclusive political dialogue, promote national reconciliation, to extend state authority and strengthen the institution and restoration of public services, to take the immediate steps for economic recovery and to promote and protect human rights particularly those of whom are in weak groups who mostly in need of help. In behalf of my fellow countrymen, I know very well that UNSMIL is a mission to assist and support Libya to recover the national efforts of what we believe our country deserve to have, peace it is.

I, together with my fellow countrymen are wholeheartedly expressing our gratitude to the United Nations for hearing our grievances and giving initial help and support to our country.

Now, I am still in point of asking further help from the United Nations to help our country put an end to this war and establish a permanent peace and order, so that Libyan people will get the chance to recover, to restore and assure their security and safety, to prosper and grow economically, and to live their lives with peace in the entire country of Libya.

Thank you.