New western colonialism emerges in Libya

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

Without question, Libya has currently entered the post-Qaddafi era. Qaddafi is still giving speeches through various channels, calling on people to continue the fight and declaring that he will rally soldiers to re-seize Tripoli, but nobody takes his blustering seriously. The armed Libyan rebels have already started the great cause of founding a new country, and the Western countries that helped the Libyan rebels win the war have also started to carve up the cake of Libya under the beautiful cover of helping Libya in its reconstruction. What will Libya actually face in the post-Qaddafi era?

Western countries swore that they would protect the civilians of Libya and let the people of Libya decide their future. But actually, after the United Nations issued a ban on flying, the territorial sky of Libya no longer belonged to the Libyan people.

For the past months, the fighter planes of NATO have been circling in the sky above Libya, and the special forces of some countries even have stepped on the land of Libya. While the flames of war have not died out, France has already urgently started the work of making preparations for the Pairs Conference aimed at discussing Libya’s reconstruction.

Somebody said that the item in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 granting member countries the right to adopt "any necessary means to prevent civilians of Libya from being attacked" has further deteriorated. Speaking directly, the truth behind the Pairs Conference is that big Western countries will be in charge of Libya's reconstruction. Then, people have to ask such a question: Where is the voice of the Libyan people in decision-making?

Libya will undoubtedly initiate the reconstruction. The reconstruction means sweet homes to Libyan people who have suffered from the war for half a year, but it means huge wealth to Western countries. According to the 2011 BP Statistical Energy Survey, Libya has proven oil reserves of 46 billion barrels, or more than 3 percent of the world's total volume, ranking ninth in the world.

Libya also has proven natural gas reserves of about 2 trillion cubic meters or up to 1 percent of the world gross, ranking fourth in Africa. The post-war reconstruction in Libya means numerous lucrative contracts in terms of oil exploitation and infrastructure construction.

France has long viewed its active interference in Libya's military conflicts as "investments in the future." Even the United States, which was unwilling to take the lead in interfering in the conflicts, has changed its attitude and dispatched a high-level delegation led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the conference in Paris to discuss Libya's post-war reconstruction, casting a greedy eye on the interests in Libya. Russia-based newspaper "Kommersant" bluntly pointed out that the conference in Paris has marked the beginning of the "distribution of the interests" in the oil-rich North African country among western countries.

The West is unlikely to let the Libyan people decide their own political and economic future, which can be regarded as a form of neo-colonialism. Many African elites are worried that Africa may be colonized again as the African Union and other regional organizations have been marginalized in the handling of African issues. Experts warned that Western countries could repeat the Libyan model in other countries if they become obsessed with regime change through military intervention.

It is the Libyan people that have suffered the most from the civil war. A top National Transitional Council official recently revealed that at least 50,000 Libyans had died in the war. At present, the Libyan people are facing acute shortages of water, food and oil, so the United Nations should immediately start cooperating with related parties as well as the African Union, the Arab League, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to play a leading role in reconstructing Libya as soon as possible.