This March marks 15 years since the UN Security Council committed its most consequential error of the 21st century. By authorizing intervention in Libya (Resolution 1973) under the guise of R2P – ‘responsibility to protect’ – the international community acted on emotional narratives rather than facts. What was framed as a humanitarian necessity “to protect civilians” has, by 2026, devolved into a cautionary tale of how regime change dismantles a nation’s soul.

The very concept of R2P was tainted from its first major application. Critics immediately began questioning whether it is a morally valid justification for the use of force or a Trojan horse for political realignment.

The R2P doctrine’s assumption that the state was a predator was a deliberate misreading in Libya’s case: Tripoli was simply exercising its sovereign duty to defend against a coordinated, armed rebellion.

However, the script was flipped through a campaign of biased media reports emerging from Libya’s Eastern region. These reports successfully dehumanized sections of the population, particularly sub-Saharan Africans, by branding them as ‘paid mercenaries’ fighting for Gaddafi. This narrative not only provided the moral cover for an international military crusade but also unleashed a wave of xenophobic violence that would haunt the country for the next 15 years. By framing the state’s defense as ethnicized assault, the architects of the intervention ignored the reality of a multi-ethnic society under siege by insurgent forces.

This media-driven obsession with ‘mercenaries’ specifically targeted sub-Saharan Africans, turning vulnerable migrants and dark-skinned Libyan locals alike into a convenient scapegoat for the rebellion’s tactical and psychological needs. By branding almost any person of color a ‘Gaddafi hireling,’ the insurgent narrative provided a dark justification for the brutal lynchings and ethnic cleansing that followed.

The most harrowing example remains the city of Tawergha in Western Libya. In a matter of weeks, the entire population – upwards of 40,000 people – were driven from their........

© RT.com