It can be said that the Libyan army's restoration of control over more than 70 percent of Libyan territory is a national achievement. Yet the capital, Tripoli, and its surrounding areas remain under the control of militias.
The word "militia" is originally a foreign term in the Arabic lexicon, and particularly in Libyan usage. It is a Latin term meaning "an irregular military organization outside the authority of the state." Armed militias are used by groups and political parties during civil wars, security breakdowns, and periods of weak central authority in any country to influence political decision-making. This makes them a direct threat to freedom and the realization of democracy. Accordingly, any armed formation operating outside the legitimacy of the state constitutes a militia that threatens social peace.
Militias were not a phenomenon known in Libyan history, but they now intervene in public affairs, often negatively, and operate openly as armed formations without restraint.
With militias, the country becomes a jungle where the language of kidnapping and killing replaces the language of dialogue, while the state is sidelined and subjugated. Behind the militias, whether regional or factional and ideological, some parties to the political conflict entrench themselves and use them to impose their will. This was demonstrated by the repeated attacks on sovereign ministries and even service ministries in Tripoli, as well as the attempt to seize the city of Benghazi before the Libyan army took control and reclaimed its role in protecting the country.
The real solution to the Libyan crisis is to dismantle all militias and redistribute their members individually in a way that prevents a repetition of the "Shields" experience. The Shields were similar to the Muslim Brotherhood's youth organization under Hassan al-Banna in his time, but are now openly armed. They represented a failed attempt to legitimize factional militias as regular military brigades rather than individuals under the authority of the Ministry of Defense. Their facade was soon exposed by the first instance of factional and partisan alignment, proving them to be nothing more than partisan militias in military uniform, a recycling of militias under the appearance of legal legitimacy.
Some justify keeping these militias by claiming that they are necessary to protect the change that took place on February 17. Yet change is, by nature, a collective act that encompasses all segments of society. If it is confined to armed militias, it becomes a coup. If carried out by a faction, group, or party, it becomes factional, because a revolution cannot be complete without all components of society. Today, however, after these years of a difficult and bloody ordeal, the political scene remains dominated by discord between the "legislative" and "executive" authorities, along with the existence of three governments. This is due to the Machiavellianism of some, their tendency to leap over problems and avoid confronting them, and their willingness to gamble on chaos.
All of this is the result of the improper exercise of power, compounded by the paralysis of the judiciary and the absence of an effective fourth estate. It has produced a climate of authoritarianism, repression, and the suppression of opinion, amid the absence of a constitution, the prolongation of the transitional period, and the elimination of the office of president. This, in turn, has produced a state of polarization in Libyan society that undermines social peace, further aggravated by factional and "partisan" infighting.
The victim throughout all of this is the spontaneous movement of the people in the streets. The result was that its peaceful nature was stained with blood and its course was diverted.
What the country needs is clear. It revolves around establishing security through the army and police, dismantling militias and regional and local brigades, and activating an army with a purely national doctrine. This would enable the people to live with dignity and enjoy the wealth of their country, which has been lost between frozen assets and the manipulation of that wealth by colonial powers. We have seen billions drained away without any clear reflection in the people's well-being, while numerous ideologies and groups continue to control key institutions of the state under the label of "revolutionary" and "revolutionaries." A revolutionary does not necessarily have to govern. The revolution was carried out for the entire people, not for the "revolutionary" to rule, practice authoritarianism, create death, and instill fear, terror, and panic in people's hearts under the pretext of revolution and revolutionaries. We all know that without NATO, the Gaddafi regime would not have fallen, and no one would have been able to accomplish anything.
The presence of "local" militias, "mercenaries," and "foreign forces," particularly when they are based inside the capital, Tripoli, constitutes a major security threat and a profound demographic disruption, and is a recipe for division and fragmentation, not only politically but geographically as well. Therefore, there can be no guarantee of any independent action by the government unless the capital is free of armed militias.
