From Syria and Mali, the attention of people who are watching cultural destruction in the Middle East has moved to Libya again. The best single article I’ve seen about it was in the Financial Times on Monday: Damage to Libya Shrines Prompts Crisis.
Datelined Cairo, it began: “The destruction recently of several archaeologically significant Sufi shrines in northwestern Libya, with the apparent acquiescence of members of the security forces, has prompted a political crisis and underscored the threat radical Islamists pose to democracy there and elsewhere in the Arab world.”
Salafists — so-called Puritanical Muslims — are blamed. The “interim” minister of the interior quit over the charges, which could make matters worse — at least in the short-term. The Grand Mufti also condemned the attacks — other Islamic leaders had previously said such damage was not allowed by Islam — but to little effect.
The Ft said that “Claudia Grazzini, a Tripoli-based analyst for the International Crisis Group,” blamed a disruption in the chain of command, saying:
We all knew there were Salafists groups in Libya and we thought they were marginal and that the government would be able to control them. What we’re seeing now is a problem in the chain of command in the security forces. You have official security forces under the authority of the government not responding to the orders of the deputy prime minister who called for the defence of these sites.
Many more details are in the story. UNESCO called on the destruction to stop, but once again — as in Syria and Mali and Sudan — it has no power to act. Reuters also covered the UNESCO statement, described in this article in the Chicago Tribune.
So is there anything the West can do about these cases? Must we just stand by and watch? Any ideas?
Photo Credit: Reuters via the Chicago Tribune