Bahrain, Yemen hopeful after Libya

Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) efforts to create a new Libya which is also seen as a new hope for Bahrainis and Yemenis.

The head of executive bureau of NTC, Mahmoud Jibril, has hailed the international support against Libya’s embattled dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Opposition fighters have not managed to find Gaddafi yet and his exact whereabouts are still unknown.

To discuss Libya’s situation further, Press TV interviewed Khaled el-Shami, the political editor of Al-Quds online.

The following is a transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The Russian president spoke about Russia recognizing NTC only if it brings unity amongst Libyans, what are the prospects for people uniting under the NTC?

Shami: Well of course this is one of the major challenges that are facing the new regime being borne in Libya. I don’t think anybody is going to say this is going to be an easy mission. It is going to be very interesting to see if Russia will maintain its position after Libyan money is unfrozen by the United Nation, and Russia and China will lose the advantage they have currently in Libya.

Definitely getting Libya united again as well as safe and democratic is a huge challenge.

Press TV: Yesterday Mr. Mahmoud Jibril, when he was speaking in Doha, spoke about a peacekeeping force and did not completely rule out military peacekeeping forces being on the ground in Libya, to ensure what he called security and stability. Considering that and considering that the head of Libyan Council on Foreign Relations have said that foreign aid will be needed on the ground in Libya what then you think is the West’s future role in Libya?

Shami: Time will tell, but I think it will be a big mistake if the NTC allowed foreign troops to go to Libya. I think they will lose the sympathy and the support they are enjoying currently in the Arab world. The Arab world is definitely celebrating and feeling the joy of another dictator being toppled, actually the third dictator in seven months.

There is a sense that a massage of hope has been sent from Libya yesterday, to the people who are fighting for their freedom, like in Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere, that freedom is possible and the Arab spring in winning. If foreign troops where to go to Libya the image would change and these troops will be seen as occupying forces and I think this will provoke a resistance from within the Libyan people who have fought in the past against the Italian occupation, especially if American troops where to go there I think they would be an easy target to the extreme jihadist who are on the ground in Libya. This may invite al-Qaeda to open a front there.

Press TV: NATO has been involved, so has many other countries as of today, Mahmoud Jibril was standing right beside French President Nicolas Sarkozy will all these countries and entities such as NATO, not want anything in return for all the help they are providing to Libyan revolutionaries?

Shami: Of course they will, and I think now it is up to the Libyan people. As long as there will be an elected democratic government in Libya it would be up to them really to decide the shape and the kind of interest that the West will have in Libya. There is no such relation in Libya between NATO and the US; I think they know that the Arab world would be watching them very closely.

If they compromise Libya’s sovereignty there will lose the sympathy and the support of the Arab world in particular.