Libya News and Interests

[anatta]

Raising of Qatar’s flag in Libya was an eerie moment

Dubai: An eerie sight that marked the capture of Bab Al Aziziya in 2011, the hitherto unassailable headquarters of Libyan former leader Muammar Gaddafi in the capital Tripoli was when rebels raised the flag of Qatar in a rundown balcony.

Doha is more than 4,600 kilometres away from Tripoli and seemingly nothing links the two capitals.

Yet, the sight of the serrated maroon and white flag being flown over Gaddafi’s presidential complex was a clear indication of the involvement of Qatar in the dramatic events unfolding in Libya.

The political establishment in Qatar was reportedly deeply enthusiastic for the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in 2011.

In Libya, Qatar played the same proactive role it had in other countries and reports said that it secured the non-objection of the Arab League to the military intervention in Libya that was crucial in toppling Gaddafi’s regime.

The rebels received financial and military support that enabled them to sustain their action against the regime.

“Following the September 11 terror attacks, the US came up with their new vision of the Middle East, basically claiming that the Arab communities are barbaric societies that have not entered modernity, that their dictators were not fully in compliance with the international order and that it was better to drop them and replace them with new rulers who are able to control their communities,” Mohammad Abdul Mattalib Al Hooni, a Libyan analyst, said.

“The West decided that the best political component would be the Muslim Brotherhood since they were the only organised political force in the region and used a religious discourse that could be understood by the masses.”

According to Al Hooni, Qatar grasped this strategy for the West and embraced the Muslim Brotherhood to act as a great power in the region.

“Qatar wanted to be the link between the Western forces and the Islamist groups that would be entrusted with managing the region,” Al Hooni said in a column published by Al Arab daily on Monday.

Al Hooni said that Qatar resorted to a known terrorist, Abdul Hakeem Belhaj, and named him representative of Libya at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) meeting amid the world’s leading generals.

“Following the failure of the Libyan-Western project in Tunisia and Egypt, Qatar became more determined to dominate Libya to use its geographic location to sow problems in Egypt and pave the way for the return of the Muslim Brotherhood at the helm of the state. It also worked on helping Al Nahdha return to power in Tunisia.”
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/qatar/raising-of-qatar-s-flag-in-libya-was-an-eerie-moment-1.2042345

 

[anatta]

Qatar, the UAE and the Libya connection
the UAE perceives the possibility of a stable, peaceful and prosperous Libya as a threat to its status in the region.

The recent outbreak of diplomatic and political turmoil between key Gulf countries - namely Qatar on one side and Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain supported by Egypt on the other - is probably the most serious since the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981. One of the key accusations that has been levelled against Qatar by the other three fellow GCC countries is its alleged support for terrorism and its support for Islamist groups in the region, including in Libya

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and their allies have issued a terrorist sanctions list containing 12 organisations and 59 individuals, whom they claim to have been supported and financed by Qatar. One organisation and five individuals from this list are from Libya, including militia commanders and the Benghazi Defence Brigade, which is battling forces commanded by General Khalifa Haftar, who has the backing of Egypt and the UAE.

The accusations issued against Qatar imply that it has been contributing, through supporting such groups and individuals, to the conflict and instability in Libya. This totally distorts the reality as it attempts to turn a blind eye to the fact that the UAE has been detrimentally interfering in Libya by being deeply involved in fuelling the ongoing divisions and conflict throughout the country, especially in the last three years since the breakout of civil war. The UAE has been attempting to embolden one side of the conflict, namely Khalifa Haftar and his followers, in order to allow him to achieve a total military victory and takeover as an absolute ruler of Libya thus emulating the Sisi model in Egypt.

immediately after the breakout of the Libyan revolution in February 2011, both Qatar and the UAE have provided political and humanitarian support for the Libyan people. Qatari and UAE planes were lifting humanitarian aid to the east of Libya, mainly to Benghazi airport, as the region was already free from Gaddafi regime control since the early days of the revolution. Once the Libyan revolution was successful in bringing down the Gaddafi regime in August 2011, the nature of both the Qatari and UAE involvement in Libya has evolved and diverged markedly with the UAE taking a much more active role militarily.

Qatar continued to offer mainly political and possibly financial support to mainstream Islamists and even to some of their ideological opponents. There has been no confirmation or proof that Qatar has financed or given any logistical support to the UN classified "terrorist" groups operating in Libya such as al-Qaeda, Ansar Sharia and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). Nor have they been proven to offer support for the group not classified by the UN as a terrorist group, known as the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), which was named in the recent accusation list against Qatar.

Qatar has also maintained a consistent support for the UN-backed political dialogue which resulted in the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) in Morocco in December 2015 and the Government of National Accord (GNA) resulting from it.

n order to stem this perceived potential threat from Libya, the UAE went as far as waging air bombings in August 2014 of targets around Tripoli while "Libya Dawn" forces were fighting other militias aligned with Haftar. The UAE's direct military involvement in the Libyan conflict (engaging in military air raids and effectively militarily aiding one side against the other) is a stark contrast to the Qatari involvement, which has been offering mainly political support and financial backing, at best.

READ MORE: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi freed from prison in Zintan

The UAE has been the main supporter of the military campaign waged by Khalifa Haftar in Libya since May 2014 known as the "Dignity" operation, with the help of Egypt and Jordan among others in providing this support. The UAE's support of Haftar has not only been military but a comprehensive multi-dimensional support involving intelligence, media support and political and financial backing. Tens of millions of Emirati dirhams are spent every year on Libyan-operated media outlets, including satellite television stations beaming from Jordan and Egypt in addition to other news, internet and social media outlets. The role of the UAE-sponsored media has been very divisive in Libya by fermenting hatred and antagonism and prolonging violence and bloodshed.

he UN panel report confirmed a delivery of 93 armoured personnel carriers and 549 armoured and non-armoured vehicles to Haftar's LNA through the port of the eastern city of Tobruk in April 2016. The personnel carriers included Panther T6 and Tygra models, both made by companies based in the UAE.

onsidering all this heavy military involvement by the Emiratis in Libya, one question has not received much attention and research: why? Why is it that the UAE is determined to manipulate events and prevent Libyans from realising national reconciliation, accord and stability? Possible underlying motives seem to be political and economic, in that the UAE sees a stable, democratic Libya as the only potential competitor in the region to its own model as an international business hub. Firstly: a genuine democratic rule model in Libya could become a source of inspiration and an aspiration for the people of the UAE. Secondly: Libya certainly has many competitive advantages over the UAE, such as its strategic location being so close to Europe, its vast natural resources holding the highest oil reserves in Africa and its moderate Mediterranean climate.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/06/qatar-uae-libya-connection-170612080219306.html

more at link

 

[anatta]

Increased disunity of Libyan state institutions reduces oversight and increases misappropriation: UN report
https://www.libyaherald.com/2017/06...ght-and-increases-misappropriation-un-report/
The assessment was made by the 299-page UN Libya Experts Panel report 2017 released last week. The report revealed varied and complex causes of Libyan instability.

The report highlights the fact that even the Faiez Serraj-led Presidency Council / Government of National Accord – which was supposed to unify Libya – has contributed to this disunity.

‘‘The Panel finds that the key financial institutions of Libya remain more divided than ever. With the possible exception of the National Oil Corporation, control over their infrastructure, assets and personnel has further fragmented. This has reduced the possibility for oversight and increased the risk of misappropriation’’.

‘‘The Presidency Council has been divided over the organization of and appointments in key institutions. For example, Fathi al-Mejbari has tried to replace Mustafa Sanallah at the helm of the National Oil Corporation, and Ahmed Maetig has repeatedly advocated removing Faisel Gergab from the Libyan Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Company. In addition, in those cases where the Presidency Council did reach a decision, the decision has been further contested externally and the Council mandate questioned’’.

‘‘As a consequence, the loyalty of some staff is still divided between the competing authorities, which have each tried to make their own appointments. Rival managements and their political backers continue to attempt to strengthen their position through various strategies, including legal action and support from armed groups, often with a destabilizing impact’’.

‘‘Sources consulted by the Panel are in agreement that the interference of armed groups in Tripoli has increased. Rival managements of institutions sometimes actively seek the services of armed groups to strengthen their claims. Sometimes, armed groups make themselves indispensable. In some cases, armed group affiliates are included in the staff or management of institutions’’.

‘‘Important concerns over the budgetary implications of the persistent division have been voiced by the Audit Bureau of Libya. The Bureau pointed out to the Panel that State expenditure was still too high, especially in terms of the exaggerated number of employees on government payroll’’.

‘‘In addition, the Al-Ghweil and Al-Thinni Governments continue to enter into contracts in the name of the Libyan State. The Presidency Council itself is also responsible for misspending, as shown by its transfer of $42 million to Ibrahim Jadhran in mid-2016’’.

‘‘Other concerns raised included the weakened position of Libyan institutions in numerous multimillion dollar court cases, often initiated with the assistance of Libyan nationals seeking to make a profit out of them. Finally, frequent attempts are made to sell assets of Libyan institutions and companies to obtain liquidity’’.

”The Panel received many allegations of misappropriation of State funds from dozens of interviewees, many of whom were insiders. Given the complexity of these cases, the limited access to Libya and the resources available to the Panel, it cannot possibly investigate all of these allegations conclusively and in detail”.

‘‘Without unity and stability, these issues cannot be addressed’’, the UN Libya Experts Panel report concludes.

 

[anatta]

Benghazi mayor Abdelrahman Elabbar visiting the wounded

Benghazi’s mayor, Abdelrahman Elabbar who survived an assassination attempt on Saturday went to visit those who were injured in the car bomb attack.

Though no one was killed in the blast, which wrecked the mayor’s hard-skinned vehicle, there was extensive damage to surrounding properties near his home in the city’s Tabalino district.

 

[anatta]

Freed' Gaddafi's son still wanted by Libya court: prosecutor
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/freed-gaddafis-son-still-wanted-by-libya-court-prosecutor-20170612

ripoli - Libyan authorities said on Monday that Moammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, reportedly set free by a militia at the weekend, was still wanted by a Tripoli court for a 2015 conviction.

Seif al-Islam, the second son and heir apparent of the late deposed Libyan dictator, was said to have been released on Friday by a militia group that controls the town of Zintan in western Libya.

The group, which had held Seif al-Islam for more than five years, said he had been set free under an amnesty law promulgated by the parliament based in the country's east during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

But the prosecutor general's office in Tripoli, where a rival UN-backed administration is based, said the amnesty could not apply to Seif al-Islam because of the severity of his crimes.

There was no independent confirmation of Seif al-Islam's release, which could spark further instability in a country already wracked by divisions and violence.

Mattia Toaldo, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, cast doubt over his reported "liberation".

"This is the fourth time in a little bit more than a year that the news of Seif's liberation has spread," Toaldo told AFP.

"There is still no visual evidence of his liberation and even the term 'liberation' must be used carefully as he was already free to move within the city of Zintan," he added.

 

[anatta]

UN approves EU ships to seize illegal arms off Libya

The French light frigate “Commandant Ducuing” operates in the Mediterranean

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Monday to allow the European Union’s maritime force to seize illegal weapons off Libya’s coast for another year, a move aimed at helping restore peace to the deeply divided north African nation.

The British-drafted resolution authorizes EU ships in Operation Sophia to stop vessels on the high seas off Libya’s coast suspected of smuggling arms in violation of a U.N. arms embargo. Operation Sophia is also charged with seizing migrant-smuggling vessels.

 

[anatta]

Moscow’s foothold in war-devastated Libya “is growing” as Russian President Vladimir Putin “increasingly” supports former Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the opposition to the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), an expert on Russian foreign policy tells a House panel.

In March, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the head of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), told the Senate Armed Services that Russia’s intervention in Libya, including Putin’s support for Gen. Haftar, dubbed the “new” Muammar Gaddafi, is “very concerning” for the American military.

Although Russia has hosted both Gen. Haftar and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, who serves as the chief of the GNA, Putin favors the opposition leader.

During a hearing on Russia’s objectives in the Muslim world held Thursday by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, Anna Borshchevskaya, an expert on Russian foreign policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told lawmakers:

Moscow’s foothold in Libya is growing. This issue is important to watch in the months ahead. Putin increasingly supports Libya’s Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who controls the oil-rich eastern part of the country but wants more. With the fall of Muammar [Gaddafi] in October 2011, Russia lost not only several billion dollars’ worth of investments but also access to the Benghazi port.

Borshchevskaya noted:

Haftar (who served under Qadhafi) pursues an anti-Islamist agenda and looks to Putin to help secure his leadership in Libya at the expense of the UN-backed civilian government. Haftar is a deeply polarizing figure, one that by expert accounts is the wrong choice for the country.

Gen. Waldhauser indicated that Gen. Haftar represents an opportunity for Russia to fill the vacuum left by former President Barack Obama’s administration.

“Russia provides the Tobruk government [led by Haftar] with military advice and diplomatic support at the UN,” the Russian foreign policy expert told the House panel. “In May 2016, Moscow reportedly printed nearly 4 billion Libyan dinars (approximately $2.8 billion) for Libya’s Central Bank and transferred the money to a branch loyal to Haftar.”

Borshchevskaya continued:

In the context of growing tensions with Tripoli, Haftar made two trips to Moscow in the second half of 2016, and in January of this year, he toured the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov as it returned home from Syrian waters. While aboard the Kuznetsov, Haftar held a video call with Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and reportedly talked about fighting terrorism in the Middle East. This February, Moscow flew approximately seventy of Haftar’s wounded soldiers to Russia for treatment.
Moscow has denied allegations that it considers establishing military bases in Libya with Haftar’s support,

Borshchevskaya pointed out.

Russia is trying to exert influence on the ultimate decision of who becomes, and what entity becomes, in charge of the government inside Libya,” the AFRICOM chief told Senators in March. “They’re working to influence that decision.”

Russia’s objectives in the Middle East and North Africa are to support other dictators as well as undermine U.S. influence and democratic efforts, the experts told the House members Thursday.

“Putin’s objectives in the Middle East have been consistent both with his domestic behavior and with his approach to other parts of the world: support fellow dictators and undermine efforts at democratization—what his Foreign Police Concept refers to as ‘ideological values … imposed from outside,’” Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza, the vice chairman of the pro-democracy organization Open Russia,

http://www.breitbart.com/national-s...witness-libya-moscows-foothold-libya-growing/

 

[anatta]

Originally Posted by Bill
Bull they destroyed it to save it, & you know it....

Yea, stability would help in several key areas, including the exploitation of refugees & the constant killings..

Is anyone suggesting dear leader go clean it up??

Trump is hands off on Libya. He won't touch it ( except maybe to bomb it again like Obama did last year)

The UAE and Egypt are doing occasional bombing runs, but Libya has been basically let on it's own
( UN imposed arms embargo) except for the UN imposed government..
Russia is the most active of the large powers - not even France is involved

It's a bit like Afghanistan was in that the terrorist training camps fuel AQIM in west Africa

 

[anatta]

Originally Posted by Bill
Has trump said anything on it??

1 comment.
"we have no stake in Libya" ( paraphrased)
we do of course-but Trump isn't going to go in.

I'm sure he just looks at it as one of those nations he (tried to) put under a travel ban, because the Libyan government cannot control it's borders/immigration.. Lots of problems in Tunisia and even Algeria now bcause of Libya

 

[anatta]

oh yeah. one of his advisors drew plans on cocktail napkin to partition Libya into it's 3 regions,

Trump aide drew plan on napkin to partition Libya into three
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/10/libya-partition-trump-administration-sebastian-gorka

 

[anatta]

April 19, 2017

by: Heba Saleh in Cairo and Andrew England in London
https://www.ft.com/content/a9be923c-2349-11e7-8691-d5f7e0cd0a16?mhq5j=e2
The internationally recognised head of Libya’s $67bn sovereign wealth fund is to appeal to the UN in an attempt to allow the fund to manage its frozen assets, despite the violent political rivalries plaguing state institutions.

Ali Mahmoud, head of a steering committee appointed by the UN-backed government to oversee the Libyan Investment Authority, said the fund was “losing a lot of money” because it was unable to manage old equity and bond investments.

The LIA’s assets have been under UN sanctions since the 2011 uprising against Muammer Gaddafi and any chance of them being unfrozen have previously been dashed by the power struggles and conflict that erupted after the dictator was toppled.

The chaos has affected the central bank, the National Oil Company and the LIA with officials backed by political adversaries bickering over the leadership of the organisations and their resources.

“There are alternative opportunities that are being missed and in some cases there are deposits in banks that are past their maturity on which we are being charged negative interest rates,” Mr Mahmoud told the Financial Times. “This has caused us big losses especially on the bonds and long-term investment portfolios.”

But Mr Mahmoud has two domestic rivals each claiming to be the rightful leader of the fund — disputes that reflect deep political divides. The UN-backed government in Tripoli is weak, has little influence beyond the capital and is locked in power struggles with rivals, including a parliament in Tubruq that is allied to Khalifa Haftar, a military strongman who controls much of the east.

The Tripoli offices of the LIA are under the control of Abdulmagid Breish, a former leader of the organisation, who has said the fund’s assets should only be unfrozen when the political situation stabilises. He managed to get a ruling from a Libyan court delaying the government’s decision to appoint Mr Mahmoud and his steering committee.

But Mr Mahmoud insists he is recognised by the LIA’s subsidiaries and by the international banks that hold its accounts. On behalf of the LIA he has attended board meetings of foreign companies in which the fund holds stakes, such as UniCredit bank of Italy and First Energy Bank in Bahrain.

Mr Mahmoud said the returns on the LIA’s assets are not frozen but his committee has not touched any funds because it is only in charge temporarily.

“We are just trying to draw up a policy to stabilise and preserve these assets,” he said. “They belong to all Libyans and the future generations, and not to any political faction.”

Another figure claiming the leadership of the LIA is Ali Shamekh, who was appointed the fund’s chief executive in August by rival authorities in eastern Libya. He says there are possible plans to open an office in London in an attempt to talk to western governments about lifting the sanctions on the LIA. He says the sanctions affect about 65 per cent of its assets, mostly cash and equities in countries including the UK, US and Italy.

The fund has investments in about 550 companies, including hotels and downstream oil operations in Africa and the Middle East, Mr Shamekh says, and several subsidiaries, including Tamoil and Libyan Foreign Investment Company.

It’s very difficult,” Mr Shamekh says. “We have a political division and that is reflected on all the main institutions in Libya. It’s very difficult to operate. Even in Tripoli, I went on a private visit . . . a very quick one. But to run business from Tripoli was not possible. Tripoli is not safe for everybody.”

There is no expectation, however, that Libya’s rival power centres would reach any agreement about sovereign wealth until the wider political battles have been resolved.

“If the whole country is not stable it will be very difficult for any investor, whether it’s the LIA or not,” Mr Shamekh says. “That day we have a united government, the second day you will have one LIA, one central bank of Libya, one NOC [state oil company.”

But Mattia Toaldo, senior analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, believes the LIA “will be the last and most difficult of the issues to be addressed if there is an agreement in Libya”.
https://www.ft.com/content/a9be923c-2349-11e7-8691-d5f7e0cd0a16?mhq5j=e2

 

[anatta]

Sergei Lavrov (right) with the UN-backed Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj. EPA/Sergei Ilnitsky
http://theconversation.com/russia-has-a-serious-stake-in-libyas-uncertain-future-79371
the reasons for Russia’s involvement in Libya have less to do with the dialogue between Libya’s governments than with Russia’s very distinctive geopolitical motives.

Libya’s political map is marked by large areas beyond government control – some are under the sway of local armed groups, while others are partially filled by violent radical Islamist groups. The so-called Islamic State (IS) maintains cells in the coastal town of Sabratha, and controls swaths of territory south-east of Tripoli.

This means that by engaging the political leadership in the coastal cities, the Kremlin can claim to be fighting IS and its affiliates (which have attacked Russian targets before). Here, Moscow is presenting itself as part of a broader international effort to fight terrorism.

Then there are the commercial interests of Russian oil and gas companies and weapons manufacturers. Russia has cited losses of US$4 billion in Libyan arms contracts since Gaddafi was toppled in 2011, and it is keen to start making money in the country again. The Russian oil company Rosneft signed a crude oil purchasing agreement with Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) in February 2017. And the fact that Haftar controls the bulk of Libya’s oil resources raises the possibility of lucrative contracts with a future national government – provided Haftar wields substantial influence.

Russia has been a vocal critic of UN efforts in Libya, its complaints mainly relate to questions of power-sharing and military command structures. Moscow criticised the UN-brokered Libyan Political Agreement of December 2015 and voiced its dissatisfaction with Martin Kobler, the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, for favouring the Tripoli government, ignoring Haftar, and thereby stalling the reconciliation process.

But perhaps above all, Russia’s approach to Libya has to be seen as a direct reaction to the mechanisms of Gaddafi’s ouster in 2011.

A dangerous precedent

At the centre of things is United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which was passed in March 2011 to authorise a no-fly zone over Libya. In the Security Council, the Russian government abstained, passing up the opportunity to unilaterally veto it.

The Kremlin has come to regret this. As it read the resolution, the mandate was written exclusively for the purposes of civilian protection, but was used by Western powers as a pretext to help remove Gaddafi from power. As the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, sourly observed:

In Russia’s view, the resolution and its aftermath set a nefarious precedent for externally enforced regime change via the back door. Russia vowed that the same thing would not happen again in Syria, and duly vetoed eight draft Security Council resolutions condemning Assad’s Syrian government.

Still, Russia’s desire to stamp its imprint on Libya’s future rather than bowing to foreign policy decisions made elsewhere doesn’t mean it’s preparing a military intervention. For all the US media’s alarm at an alleged Russian build-up in western Egypt, close to the Libyan border, Russia knows its military interventions are only useful insofar as they can be translated into political leverage.

In Syria, for example, the strengthening of Assad’s control over previously rebel-held areas, aided by Russian air sorties, “created the conditions for the start of a peace process”, as Putin noted as he ordered a retreat of Russian forces in March 2016. This peace process, to be sure, was meant to be led by Russia, as the ongoing peace talks in Kazakhstan have shown.

It seems highly unlikely that Russia will offer comparable military support for either faction in Libya, as Moscow’s diplomatic initiatives towards both Libyan governments have made clear. Any deliveries of Russian arms to either side are prohibited by a UN weapons embargo, as Russia’s ambassador to Libya has himself stressed.

If Libya’s two governments reach some kind of settlement thanks to Russia’s involvement, the Kremlin’s lost billions in contracts might return. But perhaps more importantly, Russia’s role in Libya and Syria since 2011 has made it a key actor in international security at large. So just as Libya’s political future hinges to no small extent on Russian foreign policy, Moscow has a great deal invested in that future as well.

 

[anatta]

Irish naval ship 'rescues 712 people' off Libyan coast
Hundreds, including 14 pregnant women and four infants, rescued off of Libya in 'wretched state',

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/...-712-people-libyan-coast-170626071349826.html

An Irish naval ship has rescued 712 people, including pregnant women and infants, off the coast of the Libyan capital of Tripoli as part of an international migrant-rescue effort, Ireland's Defence Forces say.

I'm very proud to say all lives were saved, no lives were lost. It was a complex operation where lives were at stake at every turn over a full eight-hour period," Commander Brian Fitzgerald told national broadcaster RTE from the ship.

"Overall, they were really in a wretched condition but in all cases healthy enough to undertake the journey to a port of safety."

Earlier this month, at least 126 asylum seekers en route to Europe drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after the motor of their boat was stolen, causing it to sink, the UN migration agency has said.

Gangs in Libya have built a lucrative trade out of packing refugees into rickety boats heading for Italy, where more than 65,000 have arrived so far this year.

As of June 14, 1,828 people are believed to have died trying to reach Europe, according to IOM figures.

Debate over dealing with the refugee influx is becoming increasingly bitter in Italy, whose economy is lagging behind its European peers before national elections next year.

The IOM recently said that hundreds of African refugees and migrants passing through Libya have been bought and sold in modern-day slave markets before being held for ransom or used as forced labour or for sexual exploitation.

People are bought for between $200 and $500 and are held on average for two to three months, Othman Belbeisi, head of the IOM's Libya mission, said in Geneva earlier this year.

"Selling human beings is becoming a trend among smugglers as the smuggling networks in Libya are becoming stronger and stronger," he said.

 

[anatta]

Egyptian warplanes hit arms convoy from Libya Wednesday 28 June 2017
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1121156/middle-east
Egyptian warplanes struck a convoy of 12 vehicles about to be driven across the border from Libya carrying weapons and ammunition, the military said on Tuesday.

The military said in a statement that it had acted on “intelligence indicating a number of criminal elements had gathered to cross the border into Egypt using a number of four-wheel-drive vehicles.”
An official in the armed forces told AFP the vehicles had been on the move from Libya.

Air force units found “the hostile targets, confirmed their coordinates and dealt with them for more than 12 hours,” the military said, without specifying when the raids were carried out.

“The operation led to the targeting and destruction of 12 four-wheel-drive vehicles carrying quantities of weapons, ammunition, and explosive materials,” it added.

The official Facebook page of Egypt’s military spokesman published a video showing warplanes taking off on the mission, as well as footage from the air of vehicles being struck.

Egypt has repeatedly expressed concern over militants crossing into its territory from Libya to conduct attacks.
In a speech last month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said setbacks by the Daesh group in Syria were driving its fighters to try to relocate to Libya and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Last month, Egypt launched air strikes against “terror camps” in Libya in retaliation for a deadly attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt, saying the assailants had been trained there.

 

[anatta]

Red Crescent recovers bodies in states of decomposition. Tajoura

The bodies of at least 25 migrants who drowned trying to reach Europe were found near Tripoli today, the Libyan Red Crescent said.

Some of the corpses were washed ashore on a beach near the Libyan capital, but most were on rocks off the suburb of Tajoura in a state of decomposition, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The onset of warm weather has seen a surge in migrants boarding boats for the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, putting pressure on rescue services.
Most were young people from Cameroon, Sudan, Mali and Senegal, said Libyan navy spokesman General Ayoub Qassem.

They were found crammed aboard a makeshift rubber dinghy, said an AFP cameraman who was on the rescue boat.

The coastguard moved them one by one onto a rescue vessel.
Once on board, the migrants remained silent, tired and visibly disappointed at not reaching their destination.

On their arrival in the port of Zawiya, west of Tripoli, they were put in a truck to be taken to a detention centre in the town.

A woman clutching her baby sobbed in the truck, her dreams of reaching Europe having evaporated in a matter of hours -- along with the money she paid for the journey.

Migrants intercepted or rescued by Libya's coastguard are usually held in detention centres until they are sent home.

But many become prey to extortion and abuse at the hands of human traffickers, who have exploited years of chaos in Libya to boost their lucrative but deadly trade.

More than 73,300 migrants have landed on Italy's shores since January, a 14-percent rise on the same period last year.

Just over 2,000 people have died or gone missing feared drowned while attempting the crossing since the beginning of 2017, according to the UN's refugee agency.

 

[anatta]

al Jazeera -part 1 0f 2

 

[anatta]

al Jazeera part 2

 

[anatta]

Resolving the Gulf crisis through Libya ( Qatar Embargo)
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/foreign-policy/340089-resolving-the-gulf-crisis-through-libya
The rift within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is one of the most significant foreign policy challenges facing the Trump administration.

The conflict between Qatar on the one side, against Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, as well as Egypt, is based on divisions over key issues including political Islam and Iran’s quest for regional influence.

These divisions have fed long-simmering tensions between Doha and the Saudi-led bloc. As the United States seeks to navigate the Gulf crisis, it would be a mistake to ignore these underlying political tensions at the heart of this dispute.



A clear example of how these tensions have played out on the global stage is the ongoing proxy wrangling over Libya.

Libya has been suffering from a civil war that began in 2014 when the country split between rival factions based in the east and west, respectively. The United States supported a U.N.-led negotiation effort that resulted in the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement in late 2015 and the establishment of an internationally recognized Presidential Council (PC). However, it has been unable to solidify its hold on the capital in Tripoli, let alone the rest of the country. It faces a major challenge from eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is aligned with the House of Representatives (HOR) in the east.

It is against this backdrop that the divisions in the Gulf have played out most clearly in a proxy conflict. As a result of personal relations between the Qatari elite, authoritative figures in the Muslim Brotherhood, and Islamist-leaning intellectuals and personalities, Doha in 2011 openly supported the Libyan revolution and worked to strengthen forces in the country close to its Islamist allies. While Qatar briefly suspended its support for proxies in Libya in 2015 due to U.S. and U.N. pressure, it resumed this support in 2016.

The UAE and Egypt, while ostensibly supportive of the PC in official rhetoric, have provided Haftar with military support in his campaign to “free” the country from “all Islamists.” These states support Haftar’s anti-Islamist rhetoric because they have sought to isolate and crack down on certain Islamist groups, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood. The HOR joined the Saudi-UAE bloc in cutting ties with Doha, and Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) accused Qatar of deploying forces in Libya and financing radical groups.

The Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB), which has been battling Haftar’s army and has fought alongside PC-backed forces, was one of the organizations on a terrorist sanctions list issued by the Saudi-UAE bloc accused of receiving financing from Qatar.

The proxy support provided by the Gulf to Libya’s rival parties is no secret. In March 2013, the U.N. panel tasked with monitoring the arms embargo on Libya said that in 2011-2012, Qatar violated the embargo by “providing military material to the revolutionary forces through the organization of a large number of flights and the deliveries of a range of arms and ammunition.”

The U.N.’s most recent report in June found that the UAE violated the embargo from 2014 to 2017 by providing aircraft and other military assets to Haftar. UAE airpower was also likely decisive in helping Haftar retake key oil facilities from the BDB in March.

The conflict in Libya presents the United States with an opportunity to mediate between the conflicting parties in the GCC rift. The United States is the only country capable of leveraging enough authority to convince Doha and Abu Dhabi to cease support for their respective proxies on the ground in Libya and come to the table in earnest search of a credible solution to the crisis in the country.

Progress on this front would establish a level of positive cooperation between the Qatar and the Saudi-UAE bloc that could lead to a more productive, U.S.-led dialogue aimed at ending the Gulf crisis.

While the State Department has been correctly reluctant to throw its weight behind the Saudi-UAE bloc, the current policy of keeping at an arm’s length is ineffective. Days before the Saudi-UAE bloc released its demands to Qatar, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert noted that “The more time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE” and whether they were about concerns of Qatari funding for terrorism or longstanding grievances.

This was a welcome shift from the immediate support expressed by President Trump for the Saudi-UAE bloc. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Riyadh to ensure that its demands to Doha were reasonable and actionable. However, Qatar is unlikely to bow to the heavy list of demands issued on June 23. Doha insists that it will not negotiate with the Saudi-UAE bloc while faced with punitive diplomatic and economic measures.

In this context, rather than pressure Qatar to submit to the demands or call out the Saudi-UAE bloc for what are unlikely the “reasonable and actionable” demands Tillerson envisioned, the United States should present Libya as an opportunity to address the competing interests of the Gulf states.

By bringing the Gulf rivals together around the negotiation table on Libya, the United States could foster common ground between the Saudi-UAE bloc and Qatar. An improvement in relations surrounding the Libya issue could help build trust and find solutions for other major disagreements. Indeed, recent progress in Libya could provide an opening, such as the decision by the BDB, condemned by Haftar and his Gulf supporters, to demobilize and agree to join a formal, legitimate national army.

One of the demands issued by Saudi-UAE bloc to Qatar is to cease interference in the affairs of sovereign countries. This is a standard that must be met by all regional actors engaged in Libya; the proxy war has exacerbated tensions within the country and made dim any prospect for a peaceful solution.

By recognizing the conflict in Libya as one manifestation of Gulf regional competition, the Trump administration, in coordination with the U.N., could exert U.S. leadership to obtain Gulf rapprochement through the resolution of divisions over Libya.

 

[anatta]

Benghazi 'liberated'

Benghazi saw fierce clashes between the LNA and Islamist militants this week

The head of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) has said his forces "liberated" the eastern Benghazi city after years of fighting with Islamists.

Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar said the city now enters a new era of "security, peace and reconciliation".

If confirmed, victory would mark a major advance for the one-time commander in the army of late strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

The LNA is not recognised by Libya's UN-backed government in Tripoli.

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Field Marshal Haftar said that "after a continuous struggle against terrorism and its agents that lasted more than three years... we announce to you the liberation of Benghazi".
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40515325

 

[anatta]