Corriere della Sera envoy to Libya, Lorenzo Cremonesi, interviewed military and political leaders to understand what is really happening on the ground near Tripoli.
“The truth is that we are tired of fighting each other. Only a small minority of our guerrillas opted to go and defend the government of al Sarraj from the offensive of the Tarhuna militia in Tripoli. Almost all of them chose to stay in Misrata ”, explains Abdel Rahman al Kot, 34-year-old commander of“ Al Mardas ”, a militia of 250 guerrillas who two years ago was in the front row fighting against Isis barricaded in Sirte.
None of the other commanders talk about leaving. It is as if the battles in Tripoli, only 200 kilometers from here, do not concern them at all. “Today everything is different from when we were ready to volunteer and die in Sirte. That was a just war against jihadist terrorists, many of them foreign fanatics. This, on the other hand, is a civil war between Libyans that will lead to nothing, if not new blood, ”he adds. For him, the numbers speak for themselves: of the approximately 260 large and small militias that make up the military force of Misrata, the flagship of the revolts against Gaddafi in 2011, only four or five have chosen to go to Tripoli. Difficult to do precise accounts. Nobody has a list of volunteers. But roughly out of about 0.000 armed men, fewer than 500 are deployed in Tripoli. “We talked about it for a long time among ourselves. There were also violent disputes. But few are willing to die for Sarraj. After all, the premier proved to be a total failure. Too weak, has no knowledge of the military world, has not solved the economic crisis, can not initiate internal dialogue for national pacification. Less than 5 percent of us support it, ”says Abdel Rahman. A more political explanation is offered by Abu Bakr Sadawi, 44, leader of the local party "National Front Conference", which aims to control the municipal council of Misrata: "The new fact is that for the first time many people from Misrata are even ready to dialogue on an equal footing with Haftar, who until recently we considered as the devil ». These statements are nothing short of amazing. When fighting against Isis these men asserted with warlike assurance that Haftar was their main enemy. A sort of foreign agent halfway between Gaddafi and the worst jihadists. "After Sirte we will flush him out of Benghazi," they proclaimed. Sadawi, on the other hand, speaks openly of the need to start a solid "national dialogue", open to everyone, from Haftar, to the leaders of Tarhouna, Zintan, the south and the north, including Saif al Isiam, Gaddafi's most political son who has long been he says he would like to stand for election. "He too, Saif too, why not? After all, he is a Libyan like all of us, ”he explains. And this too is new. Until last autumn in Misrata they showed you the still visible ruins of the war of 2011, when the Colonel's elite troops encircled and bombed the militias that make up the military force of Misrata for long months, equivalent to 10000 people, of which 500 soldiers are went to Tripoli for Sarraj. The ten or so interlocutors we met in four hours of interviews said they wanted the elections, but not in the tight deadline proposed by French President Macron. «Vote on December 10? It would be madness. We are not ready. There is still too much chaos. Maybe within a year, ”they say. They appreciate the Italian military hospital, especially if it helps develop the one in Misrata. They don't want French soldiers on national soil. «No continent in arms must be on our territory. And we know very well that French units operate in the south, ”they say. But that by no means means that they support Rome's positions against Paris. They argue: «Your disputes between Europeans do not concern us. The Libyans will decide on Libya ». I believe that in Libya it is essential to support local authorities and state-owned companies.