“Eliminating youth” … a charge of chasing the divided Libyan authorities
Wids of Libyan youth accuse the divided authorities in eastern and west of Libya of “excluding and marginalizing them”, during dialogue sessions sponsored by the United Nations Mission.
This marginalization of youth was attributed by activists and politicians to the “rule of families” and the “influence of the militias” associated with the political division in the country.
Among the participants in these dialogue sessions is the Libyan activist Ayyad Abdel -Galil, who belongs to the city of Tawergha (west), who spoke to Asharq Al -Awsat about “the rule of families, the militias and influential people who are deprived of young people from participating in decision -making and political empowerment.”
The conversation among the Libyans included “the rule of families”, in reference to the occupants of sensitive positions in eastern and west of Libya, including the Dubaya family headed by Abdel Hamid Al -Dubba, head of the temporary “government of unity”, and the family of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, Commander -in -Chief of the “National Army”.
Ayad Abdel -Jalil, 26, told Asharq Al -Awsat: “Since 2011, my awareness opens up to the (February Revolution), and the exclusion has been going on since then,” expressing his frustration with the distance of the youth of his generation from decision -making.
His feeling of “marginalization of youth” is doubled, especially since he belongs to the city of Tawergha, which “has long suffered from exclusion and the displacement of its people after the (February Revolution) 2011”, as he put it.
Over the course of July, the UN mission hosted young people who expressed their dissatisfaction with the “institutional division”, and “a gap to lose great confidence with government agencies and political bodies because there is no representation for them”, but many believe that it “obstructed the elections because of the desire of those in charge of them to remain in power,” according to a statement of the UN mission.
Muhammad al -Fakhiri (33 years), from Ajdabiya (eastern Libya), believes that marginalization begins “from the first moment to graduate the university student”, and told “Al -Sharq Al -Awsat” that the appointment in some state institutions “needs mediation from one of the influential people, whether they are politicians, parliamentarians or military personnel.”
Al -Fakhiri goes to the belief that “the rule of major families has become a widespread phenomenon, which is not limited to the holders of power.”
The deep feeling of exclusion for young people also appears in the south of Libya; The statement of the UN mission quoted one of the sessions “a complaint of non -representation in Parliament, and the denial of access to national initiatives.”
Here, the Libyan activist Mari summarizes a strange vision of the problem of “excluding and marginalizing” the youth, saying: “The war for young people and positions for the elderly,” according to what he said to Asharq Al -Awsat.
In a country that suffers from division and chaos, there are no recent statistics for the census of citizens and their age groups, but the latest estimates of the Census and Statistics Authority seven years ago estimated the numbers of the age group between 19 and 35 years at about one million and 12 thousand people, representing 59 percent of the total population.
The “Civil Society Commission” in Tripoli blames in “the marginalization of youth” on “the dominance of the regional and family tribal structure”, and the head of the commission, the victory of the calamity, summarizes the problem in “monopolizing positions within narrow circles, and in tribal quotas, on the basis of family or tribal affiliation, and not according to the educational level or professional competence and experience.”
Al -Qallal refers to Asharq Al -Awsat to “the control of the armed groups that have determined whoever participates and who is excluded, terrorizes young competencies, and besiege any free voice or independent ambition”, warning that “the feeling of young people with isolation and lack of confidence in state institutions will make them an easy prey for war networks or cross -border crime, or hostages of narrow loyalties, or entire violent projects.”
In this context, academics fear the repercussions of the continued “marginalization of youth”, which may restore the country to a new cycle of terrorism and extremism, in a country that has escaped the influence of armed religious violence organizations, most notably “ISIS” years ago.
The Libyan academic professor Dr. Faidi Al -Murabit, Professor of Future Studies at the University of Tripoli, describes this marginalization as a “time bomb”, warning of “the return of the country to the circle of terrorism, and the multiplication of the possibility of the collapse of the remaining fragile stability.”
In a statement to Asharq Al -Awsat, Al -Murabit betrays that “leaving young people without real opportunities in education, work and political participation creates a fertile environment for the spread of ideas of extremism and terrorism, in light of frustration, emptiness, feeling of injustice, exclusion and political blockage.”
The professor of future studies also warns of “the repetition of conflict and division courses”, explaining that “the survival of the same failed faces and approaches to government limits Libya to a vicious circle of conflicts”, as well as fears of “entering Libya as an institutional aging stage, without new trained cadres capable of innovation and renewal.”
Senussi political analyst Ismail believes that there is no solution to previous problems except “ending the division and forming a government of rational competencies to resolve the crisis, the rule of law, combat corruption, and reconsider the problem of employment.”
As for the legal and human rights activist Hisham Al -Harai, he calls for “the inclusion of youth representation in the executive and legislative institutions in any permanent constitution draft”, and “the involvement of young people in dialogue conferences and its preparatory committees by a fair and announced rate.”
Al -Harai also proposes, “The state adopts public policies that restore the demands of youth in employment, empowerment, education and participation, in a manner that ensures that their role in military and security work is not reduced only.”
