Ahram Weekly quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Karim Mezran on the cycle of violence in Libya:

Karim Mezran, a Libyan scholar and fellow at the Rafik Al-Hariri Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, said that Libya’s allies should intervene to prevent the situation further deteriorating. He warned that the country was now facing the threat of partition. Mezran said the alies should enter into a dialogue with senior Libyan political representatives, including the Muslim Brotherhood, the National Forces Alliance and commanders of the Misrata and Zintan militia formations.

Mezran, quoted on the Voice of America website, said: “The only chance of breaking the circle of violence is to be found in communications supported by the international community in tandem with actions by the new parliament, in order to realise a new constitutional settlement.”

He stressed the need to speak with all factions “as none of the Islamist forces or the opponent forces are capable of attaining a complete and swift victory.”

On the possibility of foreign intervention in Libya, Mezran said that the US and the EU should threaten a limited military intervention in order to force the warring parties to commit to a ceasefire. Although western powers have no desire to take military action, according to his reading of their positions, it is in the interests of the US and its allies to keep Libya from plunging into civil war again. He warned that such a war would strengthen regional Al-Qaeda forces.

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