Category Archives: Libya

Captain defends her decision to force rescue boat into Italian port

Posted on by

Carola Rackete says act of ‘disobedience’ in Lampedusa was necessary to avert tragedy

An NGO rescue boat captain who has risked jail time after forcing her way into Lampedusa port in Italy with 40 migrants onboard has defended her act of “disobedience”, saying it was necessary to avert a tragedy.

“It wasn’t an act of violence, but only one of disobedience,” the Sea-Watch 3 skipper, Carola Rackete, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Sunday, as donations poured in for her legal defence.

Continue reading...

Libyan government forces capture key town from warlord

Posted on by

Strategically significant victory in Gharyan puts pressure on General Haftar’s backers Egypt and UAE

Forces loyal to Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord say they have captured a strategic town from General Khalifa Haftar, the warlord mounting a deadly siege of the capital, Tripoli.

GNA forces were shown on social media celebrating in Gharyan, a town 50 miles south of Tripoli that served as a supply line for Haftar. The GNA’s air force chased convoys of soldiers from Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) leaving the city, and inflicted further casualties.

Continue reading...

Arab world turns its back on religion – and its ire on the US

Posted on by

Survey of 25,000 people in Middle East and North Africa also shows 52% of 18- to 29-year-olds are thinking about migrating

The Arab world is turning its back on religion and on US relations, according to the largest public opinion survey ever carried out in the region.

A survey of more than 25,000 people across 10 countries and the Palestinian territories found that trust in religious leaders has plummeted in recent years.

Continue reading...

Libya’s UN-recognised government launches peace initiative

Posted on by

Plan comes after efforts to persuade US that White House had wrong message on Libya

Libya’s UN-recognised government in Tripoli has sought to break the deadlock in the country’s civil war by launching a peace initiative which will include a national peace forum followed by simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections to be held by the end of the year.

The plan comes after sustained diplomatic efforts by the Tripoli-based government to persuade the US that the White House had got the wrong message on Libya and was in danger of backing anti-democratic forces of Gen Khalifa Haftar, on the false premise that he was leading a fight against terrorists.

Continue reading...

Italy adopts decree that could fine migrant rescuers up to €50,000

Posted on by

New bill would fine NGOs bringing migrants on shore without permission but UN says it penalises rescues at sea

The Italian government has introduced a new security decree that would mean non-governmental organisation (NGO) rescue boats that bring migrants to Italy without permission could face fines of up to €50,000.

On Friday night the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, signed a bill on security and immigration drafted by Matteo Salvini, the far-right interior minister and leader of the Northern League party, which has been described by aid groups as a “declaration of war against the NGOs who are saving lives at sea”.

Continue reading...

Qatari official accuses Saudis of blackmail and destabilising region

Posted on by

Minister appears to accept that row between the two is fuelling other disputes in Middle East

Saudi Arabia is a force for disruption across the Middle East and Africa and often uses blackmail and economic pressure to enforce its brand of authoritarian rule, Qatar’s foreign minister has alleged.

In recent weeks the Saudis and Emiratis have been accused of interfering to stifle popular movements in Sudan, Libya and Somalia.

Continue reading...

In a world full of wars, why are so many of them ignored? | Simon Tisdall

Posted on by

Instability across central Africa has resulted in a humanitarian crisis. There needs to be greater focus on conflict resolution

Cameroon, a central African state of 24 million people on the Gulf of Guinea, is rarely in the news – which is surprising, given the awful things happening there. In a warring world full of conflict, the country’s troubles barely rate a mention. That’s short-sighted. As Yemen shows, today’s local difficulties have a habit of becoming tomorrow’s international crises.

Long-running tensions between Cameroon’s French and English-speaking communities came to a head last week with the arrest of at least 350 members of the main opposition party, whose leader has been jailed since January. Human Rights Watch accused security forces of using “excessive and indiscriminate force”.

Continue reading...

Trump officials snub strongman Khalifa Haftar as US shifts course on Libya

Posted on by

Administration gives Libyan National Army chief cold shoulder less than two months after Trump showed support in surprise call

The Trump administration has given the cold shoulder to Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, less than two months after Trump appeared to show support for him in a surprise phone call, and is now rethinking its policy towards the country’s civil war, according to multiple sources in the US and the region.

Encouraged by the 15 April call, Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) hired lobbyists in Washington in the hope of arranging an official visit by the field marshal, who is a dual Libyan-US national, or one of his top aides, to reinforce the impression that he had US backing in his offensive against the UN-backed government in Tripoli.

Continue reading...

‘You get used to the gunfire’ – filming the Libyan women’s football team

Posted on by

Denounced on TV, they train at secret locations watched by armed guards. We meet the woman from Hastings who made a fascinating film about Libya’s guttsiest football squad

‘Just what our country needs!” rails the imam sarcastically on Libyan TV. “A women’s football team! And what’s more, they chose tall, young beautiful girls for the team – and for months their legs will be exposed.”

Women’s football may be getting its moment in the spotlight with the World Cup about to kick off. But, as the absorbing new documentary Freedom Fields reveals, the Libyan women’s national team has some way to go. As well as that imam, the film also features this statement from extremist group Ansar al-Sharia: “We strongly refute what the supporters of immoral westernisation are doing under the pretext of women’s freedom. This might lead to other sports with even more nudity, such as swimming and running.”

Continue reading...

International community ‘lacks moral motivation to end Libyan civil war’

Posted on by

Ghassan Salamé, UN special envoy for Libya, says country is viewed as a prize

The international community lacks the moral motivation to end the Libyan civil war, and largely views the country as a prize to be captured, Ghassan Salamé, the UN special envoy for Libya, said on Wednesday.

Salamé’s complaint came as one of the belligerents in the civil war, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, ruled out an immediate ceasefire in talks with the French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

Continue reading...

Water supply restored for millions in Libya, averting crisis

Posted on by

Armed group claiming loyalty to Khalifa Haftar had cut off water to capital and other cities

Water supplies to the Libyan capital and surrounding cities have been restored two days after they were cut off when an armed group stormed a control room, averting shortages that could have caused a humanitarian crisis.

“The crisis of halting water supplies has ended and flows have started,” the Great Man-Made River company, a pipe network supplying ground water from the Sahara, said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Soaring oil prices cast shadow on US ahead of Opec meeting

Posted on by

Risk to oil market of three simultaneous disruptions becomes lobbying point for Iran and Libya

In November 2018, Donald Trump tweeted: “Oil prices getting lower … a tax cut for America and the world! Enjoy! $54 … Thank you to Saudi Arabia.”

Five months on, with oil prices more than $70, Trump will be in a less celebratory mood as Opec’s oil ministers and their allies gather in Jeddah on Friday, without Iran. The main agenda item will be the implications for oil of three interconnected American foreign policy crises – in Venezuela, Iran, and Libya. Together these crises, being played out simultaneously, have the potential to scrub as much as 3.5m barrels of oil per day from the markets.

Continue reading...

Libyan officials say 200 people have been killed in recent fighting

Posted on by

Khalifa Haftar’s bid to topple UN-recognised government has displaced 50,000 people

Nearly 200 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured in the most recent wave of fighting in Libya, officials said this weekend.

The offensive to take control of Tripoli launched by Khalifa Haftar, a military commander based in the east of the country, is now in its second month.

Continue reading...

Sudan’s female revolutionaries must beware fate that befell women in Libya

Posted on by

Alaa Salah’s role in Sudan’s protests was not unique, African women have long led change – and Libya’s precedent is especially relevant

At the same time that images of female Sudanese revolutionaries were going viral, the citizens of Tripoli were preparing for an assault on their city. The contrast between the two experiences – jubilation and determination in Khartoum, weary resilience in Libya – could not be greater. But the parallels between the uprisings in Sudan and Libya are much closer that one might think, with hard lessons to be learned.

Having protested against the regime of Omar al-Bashir for 16 weeks, Sudanese women like Alaa Salah became icons almost overnight. In much of the global coverage, the sight of an African woman leading crowds chanting for freedom and democracy was seemingly regarded as novel, even groundbreaking.

Continue reading...

‘No coherent policy’: Trump’s scattergun approach plunges Libya deeper into peril

Posted on by

The US president has gone from urging a ceasefire in Tripoli to threatening to veto such calls in the UN

Egyptian and Emirati influence on Donald Trump has thrown US policy on Libya into turmoil at a moment when Tripoli is under attack and the country is on the brink of a full-scale war once again.

The state department went from encouraging a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire and an end to an offensive on the capital by the eastern Libyan warlord, Khalifa Haftar, to threatening to veto the same resolution a few days later.

Continue reading...

Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar is no democrat – UN envoy

Posted on by

Ghassan Salamé makes strongest attack yet on military leader hoping to seize power

The UN envoy for Libya has made his strongest attack yet on the military strongman Khalifa Haftar as his forces intensify their assault on the capital, Tripoli.

In comments in Paris, where the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is seen as Europe’s biggest supporter of Haftar’s attempt to control Libya after eight years of chaos that followed the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi, Ghassan Salamé said Haftar was no democrat and had little support in Tripoli.

Continue reading...

Libya halts Manchester Arena bombing extradition due to Tripoli clashes

Posted on by

Court had agreed to return Hashem Abedi, younger brother of the bomber, to UK

Plans by Libya to extradite the brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber to Britain have been put on hold while Tripoli remains under attack, the country’s interior minister has said.

Fathi Bashagha said a Libyan court had agreed to return 21-year-old Hashem Abedi – the younger brother of the bomber Salman Abedi – because he was a British citizen.

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Libya: this crisis is international | Editorial

Posted on by
Khalifa Haftar’s foreign backers have egged him on – and civilians are paying the price

The warlord Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern Libya, has never disguised his ambitions. Once one of Muammar Gaddafi’s generals, he returned from exile in the US when the dictator fell in 2011, attempted to launch a coup three years later, repeatedly declared his intention to take Tripoli and has said that his country may not be ready for democracy.

So the professions of shock from his backers when he mounted his assault on the western capital, held by the internationally recognised Government of National Accord, cannot be treated with great seriousness. The only real surprise about his advance was its timing. By moving while the UN secretary-general was in the country, to discuss arrangements for a UN-organised conference intended to lead to elections, he destroyed muted hopes of a political solution and underscored his already evident contempt for the process. As the prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj, complained, the response of many supposed allies was silence.

Continue reading...

Footage shows refugees hiding as Libyan militia attack detention centre

Posted on by

At least two people reportedly killed in shooting at Qasr bin Ghashir facility near Tripoli

Young refugees held in a detention centre in Libya have described being shot at indiscriminately by militias advancing on Tripoli, in an attack that reportedly left at least two people dead and up to 20 injured.

Phone footage smuggled out of the camp and passed to the Guardian highlights the deepening humanitarian crisis in the centres set up to prevent refugees and migrants from making the sea crossing from the north African coast to Europe.

Continue reading...