The Washington Post: Chaos in Libya and the East African Dam conflict are the embodiment of a world without US leadership

What would the world look like without US leadership? With this question, the Washington Post opened its opening today.

The newspaper believes that a good answer to this question can be seen in Africa this month, as two major conflicts tempt hostility between two US allies, while the Donald Trump administration is watching the scene from afar without mobility.

In Libya, a multinational proxy war is about controlling the country and its rich oil reserves, nine years after the United States led a campaign to topple former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

In recent months, thousands of mercenaries from Syria, Sudan and Russia have joined the fighting. Russia has sent a detachment of warplanes, Turkey has deployed drones, and Egypt is moving to send troops.

In return, the Trump administration sent confusing messages about its position. The State Department supported the government of Tripoli recognized by the United Nations, while President Trump last year endorsed the warlord Khalifa Haftar, who commanded the forces controlling the eastern part of the country.

Now US officials say Washington's policy is "active neutrality," in other words, the paper says, doing nothing. This is what a senior foreign ministry official told the newspaper, "First of all, this is a European problem."

The biggest loser in Libya and in the dam crisis is Egypt's ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whom Trump called "my favorite dictator."

Meanwhile, tensions between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia escalated due to the huge dam being constructed by the latter on the Blue Nile River. The Trump administration's attempt to broker an agreement between the three countries has faltered, and Trump's inclination towards Egypt - as reported by Foreign Policy - has caused "confusion and disagreement" about US policy.

The Washington Post described the US position as flabby, and that it was a gift to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian Vladimir Putin to jump to Libya with all the strength they gave. Turkish forces chased Russian mercenaries last month and drove them out of Tripoli.

She added, however, that Erdogan and Putin may end up negotiating an end to their war before they leave with their lucrative oil and gas concessions.

And it appears, as the newspaper says at the end of its editorial, that the biggest loser in Libya and the dam crisis is Egypt's ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whom Trump called "my favorite dictator." Sisi has urged Trump to pressure Ethiopia and support Haftar Libya, but the White House's clumsy responses have been counterproductive.

Al-Sisi tried again on Monday and contacted Trump asking him to help in the two crises, but this super powers represented in the states, which would have been preoccupied with mediation solutions as they have done before and excluded malicious actors like Putin, whose mark has not existed.