Insecurity, Non-Unified Authority in Libya Make it Fertile for Terrorism

On Wednesday, the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat published a report highlighting fears of Libya becoming a theater of operations for the new leadership of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorist group, especially after the Algerian Abu Ubaidah Yusef al-Annabi. Al-Annabi replaced Abdelmalek Droukdel (Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud), who was killed in June in Mali by French military operators

Libyan researcher, Jamal Shallouf, head of the Silvium Foundation for Research and Studies said, "In light of the recent incidents, Annabi will find Libya as a suitable environment due to its rugged geographical nature and the absence of security and unified authority.

Earlier today, the 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) showed that terrorist operations have cost Libya about half a billion dollars annually.

The GIT, issued by the Australian Institute of Economics and Peace in cooperation with the American Union for the Study of Terrorism at the University of Maryland, added that Libya, along with Nigeria, Somalia and Mali, was the most affected African country by economic losses due to terrorist operations during 2019.

It pointed out that the Libyan government treasury lost about $ 4.9 billion over the past 12 years due to terrorist activities. The index added that Libya was subjected to 1923 terrorist attacks that resulted in 1876 deaths, in addition to material losses in infrastructure.

These damages placed Libya in a ranking after Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Syria in terms of suffering from the harms of terrorism, according to the index.

The index highlighted the decline in the Libyan GDP between 2007 and 2015, by 4.5%, due to terrorism.

Libya, on the list of those affected by Africa, was preceded by Nigeria with losses estimated at 1.42 billion dollars, followed by Somalia by 1.16 billion, and Mali by 1.13 billion.

The index showed that these four countries were the most affected by the economic repercussions of terrorism in Libya, by 86.8%, during the period from 2007 to 2019, or about $ 149 billion, a 15-fold increase, and losses in Africa amounted to $ 13 billion in 2019.

Over the past 12 years, terrorism has cost the African continent a total of $ 171.7 billion. Nevertheless, the index describes its estimates as "very conservative", explaining that the economic damage is "much higher" if the loss of commercial investment and tourism is also measured, the impact of economic activity, and additional security spending.