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The training of Libyan soldiers across the Channel in disarray

Bassingbourn Barracks will return to its natural state: empty (credit: MOD.uk)
Bassingbourn Barracks will return to its natural state: empty (credit: MOD.uk)

(BRUSSELS2) Sexual assaults and rapes, indiscipline and gunfire... the "off shore" training of Libyan soldiers by the British authorities, which should be a model, is turning into a rout. The first batch of 325 Libyan recruits were, plain and simple, sent home. And the case is starting to make a lot of noise across the Channel. The Prime Minister being on the front line. It is indeed David Cameron, in person, who made this commitment, during the G8 in The Hague in June 2013, to provide assistance in the training of Libyan soldiers.

A training program for 2000 soldiers

Originally, the British Ministry of Defense had planned to train 2.000 Libyans, including many former revolutionaries, at Bassingbourn Barracks (in the Cambridge district). A barracks which had closed its doors in August 2012 but had reopened especially for the occasion. Started in June, the training should have ended at the end of November this year. It was terminated prematurely. The UK ministry confirmed this in a statement. " We agreed with the Libyan government that it would be best for all those involved to bring forward the date of the end of the training. The recruits will return to Libya in the coming days.”

A third of the workforce dismissed or resigned

The problems do not date from today but started from the beginning of the training, in June, remarks our colleague from the Guardian. Nearly 90 recruits - nearly a third of the first contingent of soldiers - returned home, prematurely, more or less voluntarily, we learn. Some for reasons disciplinary and behavioral », others for « personal and medical reasons”. Finally, others expressed their little interest " for the formation. But there is worse. Five "trainees" were also charged with sexual offences, including rape. " Two admitted to the judge an assault on a woman in Cambridge Market Square on October 26, two others were charged with rape of a man and the fifth charged with three series of sexual assaults... » details the with the BBC.

Rapes, indiscipline, shootings, escapes,

Initially, the recruits had received the order to remain on the base and all their movements prohibited, except escort. But the rule was relaxed later But some of them caused incidents. Some tried to escape. Gunshots were heard by neighbours, local newspaper Cambridge News reported. And local MP Andrew Lansley wrote Monday to the Ministry of Defense calling for an end to the mission. A number of recruits, around 20, also applied for asylum.

Carefully handpicked

And yet, officially, the "trainees" had hand-picked, " carefully selected explained the British Ministry of Defence. In fact, it seems, discussions had broken out between the various militias on the choice of "trainees", delaying the start of the selections by three months until last May. At the time of the start of the training, Phil Hammond, then Minister of Defense, was not a little proud. "During 24 next weeks, the british army will provide training world class for the libyan soldiers, which will allow better prepare them à support the transition from Libya towards a democracy stable et open » did he declared (read here on the UK Ministry of Defense website).

No funding...

This training was not a pure "gift" from the British Crown. Tripoli was to contribute to the training. However, if Libya paid the first tranche of the cash to Great Britain for the training, 2,5 million £ (all the same!), the rest of the money did not arrive, notes The Guardian.

No training, failure of the US program too

A lack of money which also caused the American program to sink. You remember, over a year ago. Washington was beating drums, boasting of being able to train several thousand personnel in Bulgaria. But this summer, a year after the agreement in principle, not a single soldier has been trained by the United States, simply because the Libyan government has failed to provide the money promised...

Comment: a European question too

It's a little sprinkler watered. We remember the lessons given by the British experts at European level (they were not the only ones, it must be recognized) and their reluctance in the face of certain European training missions, as regards the selection of personnel, in particular for the training mission EUTM Somalia, or for setting up missions in Libya. We can clearly see all the difficulties they encounter today and the difficulty of carrying out this type of program at the bilateral level, without a minimum of control.

This wink aside, we must remain aware that, beyond the British failure, it is the failure of the entire international community that is currently being consumed in Tripoli. The European Union did not take the Libyan problem to heart until very late. And yet that hasn't really been the priority and it still isn't. Recent events - in Ukraine, in the Middle East or in the Gulf - have again relegated the Libyan question to the bottom of the agenda. There was always, then, a good excuse, invoked by the former High Representative, Catherine Ashton, not to act too quickly. The European mission in Libya (EUBAM Libya), withdrawn today to Tunis, is also in total failure.

In fact, one can wonder if beyond the real bazaar that was Libya, the High Representative, Catherine Ashton was not trying to preserve the claims of some Member States who intended to take a "piece of the cake". Faced with the dramatic situation in Libya, until recently, " some Member States - France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom - were in total denial notes Ana Gomes, the Portuguese MEP (Socialist) specialist in Libya, who spoke this afternoon in the European Parliament. " And Me Ashton has a responsibility in this "non-approach".

In the end, the military operation of 2011, and the defeat of Gaddafi, essentially desired by Paris and London, is today proving to be a bitter victory, of very short duration, and a real political defeat in the medium term. The vast uncontrolled area, which is becoming Libya, could tomorrow pose more problems for Europeans than the victory of the organization of the Islamic State (ISIS / ISIL alias Daesh) in Iraq...

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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