Libyan citizens are actively blocking al-Qaeda sympathisers, extremists and rogue militias from threatening the future of their country.
In the wake of massive protests against armed groups, the Libyan army moved Sunday (September 23rd) to retake positions held by unsanctioned brigades.
Libya began enforcing the crackdown by arresting armed fighters occupying a military complex near Tripoli International Airport and reclaiming the site.
A day earlier, the army issued a 48-hour ultimatum to armed groups occupying government facilities, threatening to use force if the orders were ignored.
The new government strategy took shape after some 30,000 citizens held a Benghazi rally last Friday against armed groups that some blame for the September 11th US consulate attack.
According to analysts, the massive week-end protests are evidence that Libyans refuse to allow their land to become a hotbed for Islamist extremists or al-Qaeda.
"Al-Qaeda-affiliated organisations "took advantage of the military nature of the Libyan revolution, the weakness of the new Libyan government's grip on security and the widespread proliferation of weapons into the hands of armed militias", said Bechir Ould Babana, an expert on Salafist group ideology.
"The nature of tribal composition of the Libyan society and the fact that everyone feel that they were instrumental in completing the revolution, and therefore, are entitled to make personal gains, have been exploited by jihadist organisations that infiltrated the militias to pass their own agenda," Ould Babana told Magharebia.
The recent anti-militia protests demonstrate that Libyan society does not want to bear responsibility for the conflict between al-Qaeda and Western countries.
"All Libyans are against the presence of terrorist groups on their land and are against all acts that these groups try to carry out against the Western interests," Mohamed Abu Saada, a graduate student of political sciences at Tripoli University, told Magharebia.
"This is because this would primarily harm Libyans' interests, exactly like the harm done by Kadhafi regime's terrorist acts against Western interests in the past, such as the bombing of planes and destabilisation of friendly countries," he said.
"However, I'm now very confident that the will of the Libyan people will triumph in the end in eliminating all armed manifestations that Libya witnessed after the revolution and in purging those who are affiliated with jihadist groups, exactly as they triumphed in their revolution against Kadhafi's regime," he added. "However, this will need some time."
Libyans' refusal to have the conflict between terrorists and the West shift to their land was borne out by the popular uprising led by citizens on Saturday.
Residents stormed the Ansar al-Sharia base in Benghazi, forcing the elements of the group to withdraw. Two other brigades in Derna later announced they were laying down their arms in the face of popular revolt.
Given the Libyan street's pressures and its sweeping desire to expel jihadist groups, members of the Islamist militias will find themselves facing a new reality.
In addition, awareness-raising campaigns among citizens in Maghreb countries, especially Mauritania, constituted a bulwark against the moves of these groups that have tried more than once to carry out their operations against Western interests and Maghreb states.
"The targeting of Western countries' interests by al-Qaeda primarily affects local populations' interests," according to Yacoub Ould Mohamed Salem, a Mauritanian journalist.
"They are affected directly because innocent citizens fall victim and panic is spread among the people, and they are affected indirectly due to the drop of economic resources because of the withdrawal of Western investors for fear for their own security from kidnapping, and the drop of tourism, such as the case of Mauritania," he explained.
© Magharebia.com 2012
