EDITORIAL : THE KHALEEJ TIMES, UAE

Focusing on Libya

As the fighting in Libya rages on with NATO having intensified attacks, a ceasefire offer has come from Libyan ruler Col. Muammar Gaddafi.

The latest ceasefire is likely to be dismissed again by the Libyan rebels as it was by the Europeans. The ongoing G-8 Summit in France has brought forth renewed US and French pledges to  oust Gaddafi at all costs. This follows US President Barack Obama’s meeting in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron where both pledged to turn the heat up on Libya.

On the other hand, the African leaders have strongly criticised the  NATO operations.  Demanding an end to the air strikes, the African Union (AU) called the NATO operations in Libya a violation of the UN resolution. The regional leaders also expressed indignation at being denied “any significant role in searching for a solution to the Libyan conflict”.
Whether this clear and equivocal opposition from a significant regional organisation will have an impact on the NATO mission is the question. Even Russia’s strong opposition has hardly deterred the strikes. Russian efforts to broker a ceasefire between the Libyan rebels and Gaddafi’s forces, however, are continuing.
A previous ceasefire proposal by the African Union that entailed a transition period before elections was agreed to by Gaddafi but rejected by the rebels who are insistent on his exit before any deal.

In the midst of all the political wrangling and the firepower being rained from the skies and that on ground — as a result of the infighting between the rebels and the pro-Gaddafi forces — the Libyan people are the ones suffering. Mass exodus of refugees and dismal living conditions are but natural consequences of the war that has caught Libya in flames.

Irrespective of how Gaddafi has brought this about on his self and his countrymen, the legality of the NATO operations is a sticking point. The varied perspectives offering glimpses of the reason for the war — some citing oil and others water — neglect to offer a feasible solution. By the time a ceasefire is agreed on by both sides, Libya may have been pounded to the ground, given the indicators from NATO  and the reprisals  by the Libyan military. It is indeed unfortunate.

AU chief Jean Ping made a valid point when he  urged an end to the NATO operations — that only seem to have strengthened Gaddafi’s resolve to cling tenaciously onto power and fight harder. This is why the AU is insisting on the inclusion of the African states in a roadmap to end the fighting and bring stability back. A resolution to the conflict is not possible without a negotiated political settlement, one that must involve the regional states’ mediation.

It is important that the international community realises this sooner than later.

Nationality counts at IMF!

In the yesteryears hardly anybody cared of how the IMF chief was chosen or named. But it has gradually become an issue of real-politik.

This is not so because of the high office of one the world’s largest donor organisations has anything to do with power politics, but owing to the fact that the capitalist template — that was streamlined in the shadows of World War II — has changed for good. The rise of developing markets and the shady manner in which the developed West has conducted financial business has irked the world at large.

Moreover, the Bretton Woods arrangement that was supposed to strike a balance between the haves and the have-nots has miserably failed in attaining such an objective. Thus the call on the part of the emerging economies to have a say in world monetary decisions is not without credibility and substance.

The unfortunate and disgraced exit of Dominique Strauss-Kahn has opened a pandora’s box of its own. Though the European nations, as per the dictates of an unwritten understanding, are more than eager to name a consensual candidate from the continent, it is unlikely to have a smooth sailing this time around. To this day, all of the 10 IMF managing directors, since its inception, were European. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and German banker-of-repute Axel Weber are some of the prominent names in the contest, and as  all is set to get an endorsement  from the United States, the die is yet to be cast.

South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Mexico’s Agustin Carstens, too, have staked claim to the managing director’s role at the IMF. It goes without saying that saner voices from Brazil, India, South Africa and China are contesting the apartheid that is in vogue, and which does not seem to be settling without a bargain.

This is a serious moment of policy-making for not only Europe, but also the United States, China and Japan. The greed of Wall Street has proved beyond any doubt that a new world financial order is in need of being chalked out. And as far as the eurozone is concerned, it is in need of a visionary man who can further the agenda that Straus-Kahn had pursued by bailing out the ailing economies. Not only the IMF boss’s nationality, but also the organisation’s lending formula, its SDR tranches and bone-crunching conditionalities for the Third World economies will certainly be up for review. It’s time for an open debate at the IMF.