Gamal Nkrumah notes that post-Gaddafi Libya is stuck between its porous borders in the boundless Sahara and the deep blue Mediterranean Sea A wind of change is blowing across the Sahara. Groundbreaking strategic shifts are underway. Libya was once the moving force behind African unity, and several of Libya's neighbours sense that the blustering sands bode ill. Tripoli today has hard decisions to take. The African border security summit convened in Tripoli on Monday 12 March and included several Saharan and Sahelian states of Africa is meant to rework its former continental glory. The summit is also seen as an opportunity to mend fences with Libya's disgruntled neighbours that do not necessarily see eye to eye with the new ruling clique in Tripoli. The summit is also perceived as a gesture to assuage the fears of Libya's neighbours as the country is now viewed as the main source of illicit arms smuggling in the region. Also in attendance were representatives of the League of Arab States, the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations. The two-day summit meeting was designed to provide a forum for Libya's neighbours to ascertain the political perspective of Libya's new rulers concerning the lands to its south fought over by wayward warlords and the world is waiting for Tripoli to make up its mind over how to handle the crisis of the shifting Saharan sands. Among the Saharan and Sahelian countries participating in the conference are Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia. These are all countries that had special relations with the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. However, most of these countries are prepared to work closely and cooperate with Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) now ruling in Tripoli. "We have adopted the Tripoli action plan on regional co-operation and border control," Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdel-Rahman Al-Keib told reporters in Tripoli during the inaugural session immediately after the conference was convened. The underlying failings thrown up by the post-Gaddafi Libya are indeed stark. The pitched battles between the pro-and-anti Gaddafi forces both inside Libya and beyond its borders represents a damning indictment of post-Gaddafi Libya. The NTC has pledged radical reforms. Such reforms will test the mettle of the NTC. To solve this problem, the new government will have to assure its neighbours that Libya is politically stable. The sad truth is that it is not. Given these grim prospects, the NTC will need to be clear what it wants the benefits of the new post-Gaddafi dispensation to do. And, also the limits of what it can achieve. "We don't want to cause any security problems to any country, especially neighbouring countries," Al-Keib conceded. Libya's NTC Defence Minister Osama Al-Juwali concurred. He assured Libya's neighbours that the NTC's decision to deploy SAM-7 missiles are unavailing in the sense that they are a temporary defensive mechanism. "These missiles date back to 1970 and therefore they are ineffective and non-operational," he stressed. Several of Libya's neighbours have complained that armed smugglers are selling arms and ammunition to armed opposition groups and warlords in neighbouring countries. The NTC is keen to assure Libya's neighbours that Tripoli is doing its utmost to contain the problem and catch the arms dealers and smugglers whom the NTC claims are renegades of the former regime of Gaddafi. "Only traditional weapons like Kalashnikovs, explosives, and surface-to-surface missiles of limited effectiveness have been smuggled," Algerian Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kabila who attended the Tripoli conference concurred. "We don't need instability in the region, especially as we have suffered from instability and terrorist threats that affected the situation in the whole region," Ould Kabila noted. Libya's Prime Minister Al-Keib warned that the relatives of Gaddafi including his widow Safiya, his daughter Aisha and his son Hannibaal who have sought political asylum in Algeria were "using their funds to destabilise Libya," a charge the Algerian government vehemently denies. Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci declared in Tripoli that his country was participating in the Tripoli conference precisely to re-affirm and "to convey a message of solidarity and co-operation." Libya has had serious problems with its neighbours because of the suspicion that they harbour some of the hangers-on of the former regime of Gaddafi. The most glaring example comes from Algeria and Niger who have given safe haven to relatives of the late Libyan leader. Algerian officials have protested that they only received Gaddafi's relatives on the condition that they do not meddle in Libyan politics. "Algeria took them on humanitarian grounds. At the same time we will never allow them to interfere in Libyan affairs," Medelci insisted. The Libyans were, however, insistent that the Algerian authorities hand over the relatives of Gaddafi and his former henchmen. "We would like to thank our neighbouring countries for reassuring us, but we are determined to bring them to our land to grant them a fair trial," Al-Keib pleaded with the Algerians. Al-Keib reiterated to his hosts his determination that the government of Niger hand over Saadi Gaddafi, another of the late leader's sons who is in hiding in Niger's capital Niamey. What is needed now is for Libya and its neighbours to let bygones be bygones. It may yet be that the pursuit of renewed trust and friendship with Libya's neighbours marks a turning point for Tripoli's post-Gaddafi foreign policy. The heart of the problem is an enduring failure of elected representatives to help the people of Libya decide on a formula to deal effectively with its neighbours, especially their African brethren to the south. The dilemma for the NTC is to prove that it is simultaneously politically stable and willing and able to cultivate closer ties with Africa south of the Sahara. The NTC claim that what is now needed is for African countries to pledge a break with the Gaddafi legacy. Mistrust is not restricted to Africa south of the Sahara. "The Libyan people have made history for Libya and the entire region, and we in Algeria believe that we have common denominators," Medelci told reporters in Tripoli. "Libyan and Algerian people share the same religion, region and they are partners in the same Arab Maghreb," Al-Keib concurred. The Algerians were in reconciliatory mood in Tripoli. "Libyan people have made history for Libya and the entire region, and we in Algeria believe that we have common denominators," Medelci noted. And, the Libyans reciprocated. "Libya seeks to have partnership relations with our brothers in Algeria, especially in terms of stability and security because Algeria's security is part of Libya's security and vice versa," Abdel-Jalil said. Algeria's security is paramount, he conceded. But Libya itself is in turmoil and the Libyan leader acknowledged that the NTC must tackle the social breakdown in Libya. Facing the leaders of Libya's post-Gaddafi predicament is how to win the trust of its neighbours. The heart of the problem is apprehension and misgivings. The credibility of the NTC is in tatters. But it will take strong leadership of a calibre not currently on display to achieve a breakthrough.
