Libya worse off than ever, Dutch ambassador says

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Tunisia’s Libya Refugees

17 August 2014

Since NATO helped the Libyan rebels overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has descended into chaos. More than a million Libyans had sought shelter in neighbouring Tunisia, hoping their stay would be short-lived and that stability would return to their homeland. Many are now facing the reality that their stay in Tunisia might be much longer than they had planned.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

Five years after the death of Gaddafi: chaos bigger than ever in Libya

Today, 22:17

“Life today is extremely difficult in Libya,” says the Dutch ambassador Eric Strating. Five years after the death of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi it seems the chaos in the country is bigger than ever.

“There is no work, the power supply does not work properly, the Internet is gone, there is high inflation and the well-developed health care system has completely collapsed,” Strating says in the radio show Nieuws en Co. “There are no medicines and instruments any more and oil exports have reduced tremendously.”

The economy has in recent years come to a virtual halt. Strating: “A major problem is the lack of liquidity. People who have money go to the bank to withdraw money, but there comes each time a very small amount, and as a result the economy has stopped.”

Once Libya was an oil-rich country with one of the highest living standards in Africa. Health care and education were free, but now living in Libya is difficult for the ‘normal’ citizens.

After the death of Gaddafi the country landed into a power vacuum in 2011. Five years after the death of the colonel, chaos is greater than ever in the country with 26 million weapons and six million inhabitants. Libya has disintegrated and various militias fight each other. Also, there are stubborn fights with fighters of ISIS. The country is not safe, not even for Strating.

Two years ago the Dutch embassy was forced to close because of rising insecurity. Along with various international organizations the ambassador fled to the Tunisian capital Tunis.

“It’s not easy,” said Strating. “It feels a little strange that as ambassador to a country that is not your host country. But to be able to work in Libya one should have heavy security measures, so you can do it better from Tunis.”

It is unclear who currently has the power in the country. Several groups have their own plans so everyone has a little piece of power. Meanwhile the situation in Libya is so bad that, according to Strating more and more people are nostalgic for the Gaddafi regime.

“I find that very unfortunate. Life was in fact no fun under the dictatorship of Gaddafi. There were no democratic rights, no civil liberties, no respect for human rights. But I understand. He made sure that everyone had money and everyone got health care and education.”