The UK he Department for International Development has
earmarked just £50,000 in aid [for an adviser] for this financial year, despite
international calls for an urgent response, to avoid food and medicine stocks
running out. The UK spent 13 times more bombing the country (£320m) than in reconstruction efforts in the
four years after that.
Martin Kobler, the UN special envoy to Libya, told the
security council last month: “The situation in Libya has deteriorated further,
against the background of poor funding for the humanitarian response.”
Libya has a population of six million and significant
resources, but an estimated 2.4 million Libyans are in need of humanitarian
aid, with almost half of the country’s health facilities not functioning.
Obama said last month that Libya had been allowed to become
a “shit show” and a base for Islamic State. He singled out Cameron for taking
his “eye off the ball”, and said that following the military intervention to
aid rebels during the 2011 Arab spring, Libya was forgotten, despite its
position on Europe’s doorstep.
Efraim Halevy, a former Israeli intelligence chief, said
Libya was Cameron’s “biggest mistake” and was about to be the “biggest problem
for Europe in the months to come”.
SNP MP Stephen Gethins, a member of the foreign affairs
select committee, said: “David Cameron has been widely condemned for helping
create yet another failed state. A disaster is unfolding in Libya, not least
due to the UK’s actions. The UK must now step up and provide adequate
humanitarian assistance to a country which desperately needs it.”
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