With Russian and China deserting the BRICS grouping in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), India on Satruday decided to extend support to former Libyan rebels' Transitional National Council (TNC) led by Mustafa Abdel Jalil.
India has been in contact with the TNC in Benghazi and Cairo but was skeptical about the situation in Libya. With the Qadhafi regime withering away and most countries with economic interests in Libya preferring to cast their lot with the new masters in Tripoli, India also declared its willingness to extend assistance to Libya in its political transition, rebuilding and reconstruction.
This development will be formally announced at the High Level Meeting on Libya scheduled to be held on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly on September 20. The Indian Charge d' Affaires to Libya, currently based in Tunis, has formally established contact with the TNC Mission in Tunis.
India has given humanitarian assistance of $1 million through the U.N. to Libya, while the assistance of another $2 million is being processed.
However, officials here maintained misgivings about the manner in which the West twisted the UNSC mandate to protecting civilians into one of regime change. They termed the victory in Tripoli as one of “NATO aerial assets and the active support of western intelligence agencies and commandoes” to the TNC.
With pro-Government forces having melted away, officials are apprehensive of some remnants continuing a low intensity struggle from different places in weeks, if not in months, ahead. Libya is a tribal society and it faces the question of whether all tribes will owe allegiance to the new dispensation. In addition, the TNC is not known to be a unified group either. It was last heard to have four splinter groups.
“India does not buy the argument that now that NATO, UNSC and the West have got together everything will be rosy in Libya. The real problem, even if the four TNC groups hold together, would stem from the heavy flow of arms into Libya, led by the French. It is going to be long haul,” said officials.
