Motives and legal qualifications for international humanitarian intervention in Libya

Abstract

Abstract

    Through our study and review of the reasons and motives that led to international intervention in Libya, the parties and the stage that this intervention went through, the international and regional evaluation of this intervention, and the legal or legitimate foundations that allowed for international intervention in Libya in 2011, we reached the conclusion that there are many apparent and hidden motives and reasons that led to foreign intervention in Libya. Among the most prominent of these reasons are the hostile backgrounds between Muammar Gaddafi's regime and Western countries, which is embodied in the Lockerbie crisis and Libya's attempt to possess nuclear weapons, in addition to the inability of the Libyan political system to curb popular demonstrations and the splits in its political and military system, in addition to human rights violations through the use of excessive violence against demonstrators, arbitrary arrests, the use of heavy weapons, live ammunition and aircraft to disperse demonstrations, and the loss of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime of its international legitimacy, especially after the recognition of the Libyan National Transitional Council.

The United Nations and the Security Council also played a fundamental role and provided a legal motive for international intervention by issuing Resolutions (1970) and (1973), which represent the legitimate basis for intervention, in addition to economic motives and the interest-based desire of the intervening countries in arbitration and the exploitation of Libyan oil or the preservation of their oil investments. We also concluded that international intervention in Libya was rapid and many countries and parties played major roles in it. Qatar was among these countries that contributed significantly to the intervention in Libya.