Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, speaking on Press TV World News on the July 7, 2012 elections in the North African state of Libya. Azikiwe said that the vote had reinforced existing regional differences., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Interview with Abayomi Azikiwe
Sun Nov 10, 2013 3:15PM GMT
To watch this Press TV World News interview featuring Abayomi Azikiwe, just click on the website below:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/10/334008/nato-blamed-for-libya-anarchy/
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of Pan Africa News Wire from Detroit, about increased violence and clashes in Libya as security forces are deployed to Benghazi to engage in gun battles with rivals.
This comes while the takeover government, grounded in Benghazi, has never been accepted as legitimate by the population.
The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Tell us about this situation taking place in Libya. Are you surprised that despite more than two years [has passed] since the removal of Gaddafi it seems to be an extremely chaotic situation in Libya - and your perspective exactly of why that is the case?
Azikiwe: We predicted this two years ago that there would be this type of crisis emanating from Libya because of the way in which the war of regime change was carried out against the former government.
The violence has spread throughout the country various parts of the country. In Tripoli there were difficulties just last evening with shootouts that even hit the Radisson Hotel.
And then of course earlier today with the violence in Benghazi, which was the birthplace of the counter revolution in 2011, where security forces have been killed as well as other officials of this government - which is really not a government, because they are not able to stabilize the country at all.
Press TV: What do you think it will take now to get security again on the ground in Libya?
Azikiwe: That’s a very difficult question.
There has been discussion about bringing NATO back in to patrol the streets and to try to bring about some type of normalcy to the country, but that’s just going to fuel the anger and animosity even further. So I think they are reluctant to come in. They are there, they are working on a very low profile basis.
But in order for there to be any type of stability in the country they have to bring in all the political forces that have a stake in the future of Libya. They have excluded by law anyone who was previously associated with the former government of Muammar Gaddafi and in doing that there is a huge vacuum inside the country both from a technological standpoint, from an administrative standpoint, as well as security.
So it’s going to be very difficult. The United State on one hand along with NATO: they have dropped thousands of bombs on the country; they have imposed arms embargo, sanctions against the country. And they wanted to get the oil out, but because of the unrest inside the country, the oil production inside Libya is virtually nil at this point.
So they (NATO) are responsible and people should hold them responsible for what they have created, which is nothing but chaos and violence and instability and murder inside that formerly oil-rich North African state.
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