Mark Muller Stuart - Storm in the Desert: Britains Intervention in Libya and the Arab Spring

Storm in the Desert

Britains Intervention in Libya and the Arab Spring

MARK MULLER STUART

First published in Great Britain in 2017 by

Birlinn Ltd

West Newington House

10 Newington Road

Edinburgh

EH9 1QS

www.birlinn.co.uk

ISBN: 978 0 85790 927 5

Copyright Mark Muller Stuart 2017

The right of Mark Muller Stuart to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library

Typeset by Biblichor Ltd, Edinburgh

Printed and bound in Britain by T. J. International, Padstow, Cornwall

To my son, Louis Muller Stuart, who aged eleven asked why it was necessary for me to go to Libya, after seeing violent images of the Libyan Revolution on television. This book is an attempt at an answer.

And to my daughters Charlotte, Isabella and my wife Catherine for allowing me to wonder afar without complaint.

And finally to my parents for being citizens of the world.

They make a desert and call it peace.

Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (Senator and Historian of the Roman Empire) Ascribed to a speech by the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus addressing assembled warriors about Romes intervention into the affairs of other nations

This book could and would not have been written were it not for the support I received from a number of institutions and individuals who have assisted me and my work in relation to the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region over the last two decades.

Firstly, thanks to the Human Rights Programme at Harvard Law School and its former academic director, Mindy Rosen, who gave me valuable time and space in 2012 to capture and record my memories of Benghazi during the Libyan Revolution through the form of a Senior Fellowship.

Secondly, thanks to all my friends and colleagues at Beyond Borders Scotland (BB), the John Smith Memorial Trust (JSMT), the Delfina Foundation (DF), the Bar Human Rights Committee of the Bar Council of England and Wales (BHRC), the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD), Beyond Conflict (BC), the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) and Democratic Progress Institute (DPI), Inter-Mediate (IM), Doughty Street Chambers (DSC) and Traquair House for their unstinting support throughout this period. They all know who they are. Certain other institutions and individuals have not been named for operational reasons.

However, it would be remiss of me if I let this opportunity pass without recording my particular thanks to Allan Marson, Jessica Forsythe, Professor Brian Brivati, Paul Doubleday, David Marshall, Kirsten Winterman, Jenny Munro, Georgia de Courcy Wheeler, Emily Gifford, Sarah Macdonald, David Packard, Elliot Campbell, Dave Barras, Dave Angus, Gary Moore, Anna Irvin and Isabella Scott, David Steel, Jeremy Purvis, Stephen Gethins, Malcolm Fleming, Sylvia Whitman, Andrew Brown, Mark McLeod, the late Stephanie Wolfe Murray and all the interns for their contribution towards the work of Beyond Borders Scotland; Elizabeth Smith, Catherine Smith and David Charters at JSMT; Delfina Entracanales and Aaron Cezar at DF; Catriona Vine and Mustafa Gndogdu at KHRP and DPI; Sir Kieran Prendergast, Staffan de Mistura, Martin Griffiths, David Harland, David Gorman, Jonathan Powell, Teresa Whitfield, Roelf Meyer, Tim Phillips and Kerim Yildiz for their invaluable example and assistance in relation to my dialogue work with non-state organisations involved in the MENA region; Sydney Kentridge QC, Helena Kennedy QC, Michael Mansfield QC, Ben Emmerson QC, Kirsty Brimelow QC, Nick Stewart QC, Peter Carter QC, Michael Ivers QC, Sudhanshu Swaroop QC, Gareth Pierce, Louis Charalambous, Blinnie Ni Ghrlaigh, as well as all my former colleagues from the Chambers of Mark Muller, including Raj Rai, Edward Grieves, Ajanta Kaza, for their long-term support of my legal and human rights work in the MENA region; Jason McCue and McCue and Partners for their comradeship and company during a truly remarkable journey into the heart of the Libyan Revolution; Allan Little, William Dalrymple, Oscar Guadiola-Reveria, Jim Naughtie, Magnus Linklater, Robert MacDowell and all the other regular international BB participants and presenters who each year help bring to life the stories and tales of people from the MENA region at Beyond Borders various culture festivals held during the Edinburgh Festival; and of course to my family, Catherine, Isabella, Louis, Charlotte, Maria and Christopher.

Finally, a special huge thanks must be given to my editor, Mairi Sutherland, for all her advice and patience in helping to edit this book, including putting up with my never-ending travels with the United Nations; Christine Gilmore, Peter Sacks, Tertia Bailey, Mark Gorman and my wife Catherine Maxwell Stuart for reading the text; and to Neville Moir, Hugh Andrew and their team at Birlinn, without whose support this book would not have seen the light of day.