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Monday, August 8, 2011

Refugees and Human Trafficking

August 8, 2011
last edits August 14


The Scope of the Crisis
The Libyan Civil War has unleashed an epic outpouring of foreigners who had been living and working in Libya, especially from impoverished African nations. A May report by the International Center for Research and Study on Terrorism and Aide to Victims of Terrorism (CIRET-AVT) and the French Center for Research on Intelligence (CF2R) addresses this in some detail. The report (which I've written on here) estimates as many as four million (and as few as three million) have fled "the fighting."

Considering that desert-dominated Libya is a nation with a native population of only about six million, this is bound to have en effect on Libya, let along the refugees' home nations. There are also an unknown number of foreigners who haven't left - those still employed and safe, those lynched in "free Libya" and now dead - a number that's almost surely in the thousands - and those existing unsafe but in hiding in Benghazi and elsewhere, we're looking at possibly five million or more. That's a lot of damn people who the rebels felt didn't belong there.

Their employment was enabled by government-run oil funds, foreign investments, and internal stability, all of which have were stripped between the February uprising and the "world community's" follow-up blows. For the effects in Libya and the region I'll cite the CIRET-AVT/CF2R report [English-language PDF], written by their top people after a month-long visit to both halves of Libya.

The flight of foreign communities
Before the revolution, Libya, although totalitarian in nature, offered employment and income to its population and many foreigners, including Africans and Asiatics. Libya has for some time absorbed the unemployed of neighbouring states. Many immigrants worked in the petroleum and construction industries. About 3 to 4 million foreigners left the country due to the pressure of the events.

- 1.5 to 2 million Egyptians,
- 1 million Sahel, West and Central Africans,
- 600,000 Sudanese,
- More than 200,000 Moroccans,
- More than 100,000 thousand Tunisians,
- 60,000 Palestinians,
- 10,000 Algerians,
- As well as many Turks, Philipinos, Sri Lankans and other Asiatics.

The civil war therefore caused the return home of many economic emigrants, even though their countries have high unemployment rates. This exodus risks aggravating significantly the situation in these countries; they lose a source of revenue - that income sent home by the emigrants - and see return home those who will swell the ranks of the unemployed and disaffected. This will increase the number of those being smuggled to Europe, since the Gulf countries are not interested in immigrants from some of these countries, even though they are ‘brothers’ and ‘revolutionaries’, they prefer workers from Asia.

Another consequence of the departure of these foreign workers, who contributed to economic functions in the country, is that this has put it into a state of 'hibernation.' Construction sites, hotels, restaurants, businesses and service stations functioning, due to lack of staff.
[p21]

"... lets remember NATO decided to intervene in Libya to protect civilians," MSF field coordinator for the Shousha camp in Tunisia, Sasha Matthews, told IPS. And it was the United Nations Security Council who decided to impose an air embargo, to prevent "mercenaries and weapons" being flown in, but it's prevented everyone else from flying out. Desert crossing are a dead end - no one is allowed to fly or sail out of Tunisia or Egypt, it seems. A Medecines Sans Frontiers video has all those who want to leave returning to Libya first and sailing from there. One Somali man's pregnant wife took off without telling him, he says, trying for Italy but dying in one of the many ships that sank in the sea.

A Dangerous Crossing
After the flood of refugees really started, a few weeks after the protests started, the deaths started racking up. Apparently 335 disappeared in a late March sinking. On April six, hundreds were missing after another capsize. Final death toll: about 250. [source] Again in early May, another ship named Abdi went under, killing hundreds. [link] And those are just a few.

It seems worth asking if ships usually sink this often, but again, we're talking about 3-4 million people moving out, nearly all by sea. Inter-Press Service News Agency reported on August 6 that the death toll had reached at least 1,800.
Just last month a Spanish NATO vessel rescued over 100 African refugees who had escaped Libya. Among the group were 17 women - four of them pregnant - and eight children. They were denied entry and shelter by Italy and Malta.

Since the start of Libya’s Arab Spring and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) air campaign against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, more than 1,800 men, women and children have reportedly drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in heavily overcrowded, unseaworthy boats.

The Italian coastguard recovered 25 bodies of sub-Saharan African refugees Monday, who choked to death in the engine room of a boat crammed with nearly 300 people. The boat was trying to reach Italy’s southern holiday resort island of Lampedusa.
Others have died from on-board violence, and in one strange case in May, several were reportedly tossed overboard by superstitious passengers hoping to end a storm. The ship went down anyway. All told, that is less than 2,000 out of 3-4 million, not necessarily that horrific, all things considered. It's a death rate of at most one per thousand and perhaps less than half that.

But of course, these are people we're talking about, precious, unique, irreplaceable human beings. Highly valuable, in the right hands.

Whole Vessels Disappear?
CNN mentioned it on May 10:
Hundreds of people are missing after the ship Abdi was on went down last Friday, while 250 people died in a shipwreck at the beginning of April, and two boats with 480 people between them have simply vanished, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said.
More can be found with the people who prodded the high commission to check and confirm.
An Appeal to the United Nations: There May be Survivors Among the 335 sub-Saharan Refugees Who Went Missing on March 22nd, 2011.
Gruppo EveryOne
Milan (Italy), August 4, 2011. On the night of Monday, March 22nd, 335 sub-Saharan refugees, including many women and children, mostly Ethiopians and Eritreans, set sail from Tripoli (Libya) hoping to reach the Italian coast and flee from persecution. The boat, driven by a smuggler, went missing just a few hours later. A relative of two of the passengers on the boat raised the alarm by contacting EveryOne Group and other humanitarian organizations, who immediately alerted the authorities to ask for patrols to be sent into international waters, and requested the intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Five bodies of sub-Saharan refugees - two boys, two women and a man - were found in the sea with gunshot wounds according to Libyan authorities and local NGOs.

They were part of the group of 335 refugees, predominantly Eritrean and Ethiopian, who left Tajura (Libya) on 22nd March and have not been heard from since. It is not clear who may have murdered the refugees and the authorities have not provided photos of the bodies. EveryOne Group, which was in constant contact with the families of some of the missing refugees (both in Eritrea and Europe) in the weeks following the tragedy collected together some reports according to which there were survivors of the attack, and these people had attempted to contact relatives abroad. The survivors are said to be in Libya, in a prison or a detention camp. EveryOne Group released news of these reports and has repeatedly contacted the Libyan authorities and the United Nations, asking for a search for these survivors to be made.
Smugglers Put in Charge of humanitarian evacuation? 
Under what kind of authority was that approved? Well, it seems, the local authorities where allied lynch mobs had first pushed these human cattle to want to leave. I again refer to the CIRET-AVT/CF2R report, page 14, "Irredentism of Eastern Libya"
Finally, a little known fact, Benghazi has become, over the course of the last years, the epicentre of African migration to Europe. This human traffic was transformed into a vast industry, turning over billions of dollars. A parallel mafia type world developed in the town where the trafficking was deeply rooted and employed thousands of people in all areas, not without corrupting the police and officials.

It is only a year ago that the Libyan government with the assistance of Italy was able
to control this cancer.

With the disappearance of its ‘business’ and the arrest of a number of its leaders, the local mafia was ready to finance and to support the Libyan rebellion. Numerous gangs and members of the underworld emerged from the shadows and are known to have carried out punitive assaults against the African immigrants in Benghazi and its suburbs. Since the start of the insurgency hundreds of immigrant travellers, Sudanese, Somalians, Ethiopians, and Eritreans were robbed and murdered by the rebel militias. This fact is carefully concealed by the international media.
That benefitted the rebel cause greatly - the dead and captured black men became temporary "proof" of the Afro-mercs who signaled Gaddafi's eminent demise. In return, a cut of the exit fees, and perhaps on the side, a few boatloads delivered onto some slave market for tens of millions a pop. A cut back to the rebels to help them buy guns? Who knows...

One Troubling Actor
Ali Abdelaziz al-Essawi is currently Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of the rebel NTC and was previously the TNC's minister of Foreign Affairs, and one of the highest-ranking member of the council (Wikipedia). He played at least some part in spreading and giving credibility to the blood libel that Gaddafi was hiring mercenaries from black Africa, and tasking them with beastly acts of savagery. The UK Guardian's strangely credulous article from February mentioned this:
Essawi told al-Jazeera: "People say they are black Africans and they don't speak Arabic. They are doing terrible things, going to houses and killing women and children."
Maxmillian Forte also cited that quote in an excellent article from April, as well as this decade-old classic from the regime insider, from the time of horrific nationwide race riots in 2000 that killed hundreds, including black-skinned diplomats:
the then Minister of Economy, Trade, and Investment -- one Ali Abd-al-Aziz al-Isawi -- stated about the African presence: "it is a burden"; and then he added this: "They are a burden on health care, they spread disease, crime. They are illegal."
For this older quote, Forte cited this UN Watch demand for Gaddafi's Libya to end its systemic racism against Blacks. Violent protests and lynchings started one year later to the day, the racists took over half the country, and won instant support from UN Watch (see here, here, and here, for starters - the last specifically endorsing al-Essawi on the "hired guns" paid to "massacre," just ignoring the racial element of it). And the Security Council of the UN they try to keep in line did everything it could to allow and encourage the army of the lynch mob in its bid for full takeover, with no protest from UN Watch. The real problem they have was never with racism itself, it seems. This is what China's calling "Human Rights Imperialism," and the gripe was with Gaddafi. In both cases, they used the racism of those like Essawi - within the regime or without - to injure the Jamahiriya.

At any rate, we see a consistent pattern with al-Essawi: whenever riots boil over, cause or effect, he's there to fertilize the public mind with paranoia. This spurs greater violence and bloodshed, chasing off the unwanted blacks, troubling and burdening the regime, and creating an immense rush of business for those who profit from the misery of others' displacement. Just what Mr. al-Essawi or his business associates might gain from the latter is something we cannot know.

52 comments:


  1. 2 million Libyan exiles have been replaced by 37 000 "refugees"
    As of July 2014, 37,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with UNHCR Libya.

    IOM estimates that there are more than 200,000 migrant workers in Libya, mostly from Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa

    http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp271609.pdf

    In an interview broadcasted on Al-Ghad Al-Arabi TV, Al-Kasih said that over two million Libyans fled the country due to the spread of violence and are staying in neighbouring countries.Friday, 21 November 2014 14:21

    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/15398-journalist-two-million-libyans-have-fled-the-country-replaced-by-6000-militants

    DUBAI, 14 June 2011 (IRIN) - The crisis in Libya has forced over 636,000 people to leave the country, including 280,741 third-country nationals
    http://www.irinnews.org/report/92970/libya-timeline-of-key-events-since-4-april

    According to CIVIC ( Campaign For Innocent Victims In Conflict )  August 12, 2011, Casualty and Displacement Statistics since May 2011,  an estimated 849,739 people have fled Libya ( OCHA ). 

    ReplyDelete
  2. Overall, as of 30 September ( 2013) , 14,056 refugees from Syria were
    registered with UNHCR in Libya.

    http://www.tawergha.org/docs/2013-09-00-libya-unhcr-report-english.pdf

    Ninety-seven%  of the citizens who fled from Syria  have gone to the neighbouring countries: Turkey, Egypt, Iraq  and, most of all, Lebanon and Jordan – where today live 835,735 and 566,303 refugees, respectively.

    https://unlucano.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/how-the-fortress-europe-denies-asylum-to-the-syrian-refugees-by-antonio-mazzeo/


    ReplyDelete
  3. May 15, 2015
    Although Syria is not even on the same continent as Libya, the report
    http://www.globalinitiative.net/download/global-initiative/Libya%20Criminal%20Economies%20in%20the%20trans-Sahara%20-%20May%202015.pdf

    finds that most of the migrants being trafficked through Libya are Syrian refugees looking
    for ways to escape from the brutality of ISIS and the constant threat posed by the country's ongoing civil war.

    The report explains that Syrians are trafficked into Libya via Lebanon, Egypt or Sudan.

    "Syrians account for the largest share of the migrants smuggled through Libya, though there are a rapidly growing number of sub-Saharan Africans now also migrating along these routes," the report explains.

    Now that Syrians and more Africans are looking to make it into Europe, the report explains that it provides a great opportunity for terrorist groups and criminal networks to build both their revenue and authority.

    "This growing business now provides what is possibly now the largest and most easily accessible threat finance opportunity for both organized crime networks and armed groups to purchase more arms, establish larger and more regular armies, and demand taxation," the report claims.

    Human trafficking has starkly increased in the last four years since the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

    The report states that in 2010, only 4,500 refugees were smuggled into Europe across the Mediterranean.

    In 2014, that estimate reached over 170,000, with 60 percent of them coming into Europe from Libya.

    Out of the 170,000 migrants, over 39,000 of them were from Syria, while over 33,000 of them hailed from Eritrea.

    "Forced and illegal [but voluntary] migration has risen to become one of the largest sources of income in Libya, and a wide range of groups are profiting," the report states.

    "Since the Gadhafi era, militia groups in Libya have run detention centers for migrants,
    and continue to do so. There are numerous accounts of militia groups rounding up migrants and extorting their families for release, or selling migrants on to smugglers."

    The report explains that the smugglers tend to charge about $800 to $1,000 to smuggle
    a migrant into Libya, then charge about $1,500 to $1,900 to smuggle them across the Mediterranean.
    http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-militants-are-making-millions-off-of-human-smuggling-trade-from-libya-into-europe-report-finds-139138/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wednesday, 16 Jul, 2014
    Libyan jihadists in Syria and Iraq returning home to fight Haftar: security sources

    Libyan jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq are returning home to fight the breakaway militia led by Khalifa Haftar, who has recently emerged as a serious threat to the country’s Islamists, security and military sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

    The revelation came after former Libyan officials expressed fears of an expected Islamist onslaught in a bid to take over the capital, Tripoli.

    “Islamists have decided to bring the Libyan jihadists they had sent to Syria and Iraq in order to control Tripoli on [Thursday], particularly after they lost in the parliamentary elections,” a security source, who spoke with Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, said.

    Among the forces expected to take part in the attack are the Brotherhood-affiliated Libya Shield militias—a group of militias based in the city of Misrata—the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Al-Sharia and foreign jihadists who came to Libya after the 2011 revolution.

    http://www.aawsat.net/2014/07/article55334325/libyan-jihadists-in-syria-and-iraq-returning-home-to-fight-haftar-security-sources

    The sources say the Derna branch of ISIS counts 800 fighters and operates half a dozen camps on the outskirts of the town, as well as larger facilities in the nearby Green Mountains, where fighters from across North Africa are being trained.

    It has been bolstered by the return to Libya from Syria and Iraq of up to 300 Libyan jihadists who were part of ISIS' al Battar Brigade -- deployed at first in Deir Ezzor in Syria and then Mosul in Iraq. These fighters supported the Shura Council for the Youth of Islam in Derna, a pro-ISIS faction.

    http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/18/world/isis-libya/

    ReplyDelete
  5. BENGHAZI, Libya — Every week, about a dozen Syrians arrive at Benghazi’s airport for what’s described as insurgent training. When they fly out, they’re carrying fake Libyan passports, according to three officials familiar with the comings and goings of foreigners at the airport.
    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/libya-benghazi-has-become-training-hub-for-islamic-jihadists.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sunday, 24 May 2015
    British ISIS recruits have begun switching their routes to Syria, traveling through Italy to Libya to avoid detection, The Guardian reported this week.
    The new route, which avoids going through the popular but heavily guarded Turkish border –used to directly reach Syria – reportedly allows the militants to avoid security measures in UK airports.
    They are now reported to be crossing the English Channel to France and driving through Italy before sailing over to Libya or Tunisia – all before heading to Syria, according to sources monitoring British jihadist movements.
    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2015/05/24/British-ISIS-recruits-are-taking-a-new-route-to-reach-Syria.html
    Islamic State fighters became a major force last year in Derna, a jihadi bastion in Libya's east, and quickly spread to the biggest eastern city Benghazi, where they have conducted suicide bombings on streets divided among armed factions.
    By occupying Sirte over the past four months they have claimed a major city in the center of the country, astride the coastal highway that links the east and west.
    They made their presence known to the world in February by kidnapping and beheading
    more than 20 Egyptian Christian oil workers on a beach and posting video on the Internet.
    In Libya, the group deploys locally-recruited fighters, led by envoys sent from Syria and Iraq. Those include Libyans returned from fighting on Syrian and Iraqi frontlines,
    steeped in the group's ethos of extreme violence and permanent warfare between those it considers true Sunni Muslims and all others.
    http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0O610M20150521?irpc=932

    ReplyDelete
  7. Britain is helping turn Libya into a 'cradle of terrorism' exporting killers to Europe along
    with thousands of illegal migrants, one of the country's senior politicians has warned.

    Mahmoud Jibril was the interim prime minister when [the dictator] Muammar Gaddafi
    was killed in 2011, and is now head of the National Forces Alliance party.

    The RAF and the French Airforce led bombing raids on Colonel Gaddafi,
    as Prime Minister David Cameron heralded a new dawn of democracy and stability in the North African state.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3094893/Britain-helping-turn-Libya-cradle-terrorism-exporting-killers-Europe-amid-thousands-illegal-immigrants.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. @KenRoth @Negation2010 all those boats departs from ares controlled
    by fictions supported by the #USA #Turkey #Qatar in #Libya
    https://twitter.com/aj_jobs/status/602417513352138753


    In the chaos of the Libya conflict, jihadi groups have emerged as a potent third force,
    determined to derail any meaningful negotiation process between the two major blocs
    http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/religion-geopolitics/commentaries/opinion/isis-libya-new-third-force
    In March 2010, due to the intervention of Tony Blair,
    Saif Qaddafi (Muammar’s son) announced
    the release of Belhadj and 233 other members of the LIFG from Abu Selim
    as part of a reconciliation of the Qaddafi government with the LIFG and the Muslim Brotherhood.

    http://politicalvelcraft.org/2013/02/20/updated-treason-fact-sheet-on-obama-al-qaeda-cia-alliance-with-questions-for-congressional-investigators/


    24 May 2015
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3094893/Britain-helping-turn-Libya-cradle-terrorism-exporting-killers-Europe-amid-thousands-illegal-immigrants.html
    Speaking at the World Economic Forum on North Africa and the Middle East, Mr Jibril said: 'Actually we believed the international community's intervention was to protect civilians
    but it turned out that their main purpose was to get rid of Gaddafi.

    'What civilians are exposed to right now is much more horrible, and much more dangerous than what took place in 2011, and the world community doesn't raise a figure about that.

    2011 September 15
    10.42am: Cameron is due to outline plans to send a military experts to Libya, according to the BBC.
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/2011/sep/15/libya-world-leaders-visit-tripoli
    It has these bullet points on what Cameron is due to announce in a speech during his visit.

    • deploy a UK military team to advise the NTC on security

    • return Libyan assets totalling £500m ($790m) to the interim authorities as soon as possible
    • make 50 places available in UK specialist hospitals for critically ill Libyans
    • provide £600,000 for de-mining efforts in Libya and £60,000 to pay for a police communications system


    Dimanche /sunday 2 Septembre 2012

    The base will be build , according the same source
    at the outskirts of Sirte and Ras Lanouf

    Cette base serait construite, selon la même source, aux environs de Syrte et de Rass Lahnout

    La délégation française est arrivée le 27 août dernier en Libye.
    http://www.alterinfo.net/LA-FRANCE-VEUT-INSTALLER-UNE-BASE-MILITAIRE-EN-LIBYE_a80884.html


    ReplyDelete
  9. GNC and Libyan Dawn profit from illegal migration

    In my column two weeks ago, I took note that almost all the illegal migrants attempting
    to cross the Mediterranean from Libya were doing so from port cities controlled by Libya Dawn militias. I passed on what appears to be common knowledge in Libya – that local officials ruling those coastal towns and cities on behalf of the GNC and the Libya Dawn militias were on the take, turning a blind eye to the increasing number of illegal, and often fatal, voyages departing from them.

    So when Italy and other major EU state leaders started talking about military action to destroy the smuggler boats before they could load up with illegal migrants, the initial response of the GNC was to say they would confront any operation made without prior co-ordination with the regime.

    But in face of increasing calls within the Italian political establishment for military action against the Libya Dawn militias protecting the smuggling operation, not to mention the organization’s increasing military and political isolation, the GNC reversed its position.

    Suddenly, they have begun talking about sending out their own armed forces to patrol Libya’s coastline, in co-ordination with the EU. The Italian government’s response has been curiously welcoming.

    Italy welcomes collaboration with GNC
    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2015/05/09/A-bizarre-twist-in-Libya-s-militia-drama.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. Libya Dawn revolutionaries show support for GNC

    Libya Dawn Operation revolutionaries representing 23 cites issued on Wednesday
    a statement in Al-Zaweya to show support to the General National Congress
    as the sole legitimacy in Libya urging everyone to comply with its orders.

    The statement indicated that all of the revolutionaries must be united all around Libya
    and that Libya Dawn partners are not allowed to declare neither war nor peace unilaterally
    https://www.facebook.com/lyobserver/photos/a.515960841842334.1073741828.515956728509412/696849840420099/?type=1



    May 20 2015
    https://www.libyaherald.com/2015/05/20/ghariani-stirs-new-controversy/

    Mufti Ghariani denounces Misrata brigades statement for peace and reconciliation

    http://www.alwasat.ly/ar/news/libya/75385/
    4 Misrata Brigades confirm their support for dialogue, putting an end to the fighting.

    In Misrata, 236 revolutionary brigades are registered with the Misratan Union
    of Revolutionaries (MUR),7 accounting for almost 40,000fighters

    http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/F-Working-papers/SAS-WP12-After-the-Fall-Libya.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  11. Actually we believed the international community's intervention was to protect civilians
    but it turned out that their main purpose was to get rid of Gaddafi.

    'What civilians are exposed to right now is much more horrible, and much more dangerous than what took place in 2011, and the world community doesn't raise a (finger) about that."

    First part, I doubt Jibril et al. were really fooled. The rest, true and well put.

    The parts about Misratans putting aside their gripes for unity, finally, I copied over to this new post. I said I'd do a new post last weekend but got booked. This weekend I'll do at least one more. (it's slower to collate posts on subjects I'm now rusty on)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Libya | Mon Mar 7, 2011
      Al Jazeera quoted sources from the rebel interim council as saying it rejected Gaddafi's proposal to quit because it would have been an "honorable" exit for him.

      The channel said Gaddafi had wanted guarantees of safety for him and his family and a pledge they not be put on trial.


      Ahmed Jabreel, an aide to rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said: "Any negotiations must be on the basis that Gaddafi will step down. There can be no other compromise."


      One of Gaddafi's sons, Saadi, said Libya would descend into civil war if his father stepped down, Al Arabiya television reported, adding that Libya would turn into a new Somalia and that the country's tribes would fight each other.

      In an interview with France 24 television, Gaddafi said Libya was an important partner for the West in containing al Qaeda and illegal migrants trying to reach Europe.
      "There are millions of blacks who could come to the Mediterranean to cross to France and Italy, and Libya plays a role in security in the Mediterranean," he said.

      So far tens of thousands of migrant workers have fled but few Libyans.
      "If we get a massive outflow of Libyans, this would create a refugee situation, so we appeal to all countries to keep their doors open and be ready to provide assistance as humanitarian law requires," United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.

      A British team reported to include special forces left Benghazi on Sunday after rebels captured and then released them.

      Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa said 300 al Qaeda fighters formerly held in Guantanamo Bay were supporting rebel forces."It's clear there is a conspiracy to divide Libya," he said.

      http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/08/us-libya-protests-idUSTRE71G0A620110308

      Delete
  12. NATO took over control of the air strikes, which continued for weeks,
    and by May the rebels gained
    ground and momentum in cities in both the east and west of the country.

    Qaddafi refused to participate in talks mediated by South African president Jacob Zuma.

    In June, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Qaddafi, his son,
    Saif al-Islam, and his intelligence chief, Abdulla al-Senussi. They were charged crimes against humanity for the attacks on civilians in the first two weeks of the revolt.
    http://www.factmonster.com/country/libya.html

    Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:9PM presstv.ir
    South African President Jacob Zuma says embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi has accepted the African Union’s roadmap for a ceasefire to end the war in Libya.
    --------------------------

    Last week, it was revealed in emails of then United States Secretary of State,
    Hillary Clinton, that Mahmoud Jibril, the 2011 head of Libya’s National Transitional Council – or interim Prime Minister of the rebels opposing Gaddafi – had clashed with Zuma back then.

    He had told Clinton’s aides that he had recently accused Zuma of making Nelson Mandela feel ashamed.The email does not disclose the context for Jibril’s remark, but he explained this in a telephone interview with the ISS this week.

    Jibril is now the leader of the National Forces Alliance, the largest political party in the internationally recognised Libyan government which sits in Tobruk, 1 000 kilometres east of the country’s historic capital Tripoli.

    The recognised government was forced to flee Tripoli last year by Libya Dawn,
    a coalition of militias and Islamists, which then set up a rival government.

    Jibril’s account of his encounters with Zuma in 2011 throws a different light on Pretoria’s explanation of what went wrong with the AU’s peace efforts and indeed the Libyan revolution.

    It is public knowledge that Zuma visited Tripoli twice that year, once on 9 April, as head of a five-president dedicated AU committee appointed to tackle the Libyan crisis, and then again on 31 May.

    After meeting Gaddafi in Tripoli on the first trip in April, the rest of the AU presidential committee visited Benghazi to talk to the rebels, but Zuma did not.
    That was the first black mark against his name, Jibril later revealed in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV.

    However, it has not been reported in South Africa (or not widely so) that Zuma also met Jibril three times during that period, in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

    http://www.issafrica.org/iss-today/what-ended-zumas-mediation-in-libya

    Meanwhile, NATO has agreed "in principle" to have a political representative in Benghazi,
    to "improve communication" with the National Transitional Council (TNC).
    Contacts with NATO have been building up since general secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with Mahmoud Jibril on April 13 .


    ReplyDelete
  13. In a 30-minute telephone interview Thursday night, Qaddafi again charged that Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood had instigated the protest uprising in Libya.
    He warned that the fall of Cyrenaica
    would open Libya to the establishment of a Muslim jihadi and radical rear base
    for attacks on Europe and incursions into Egypt.

    http://www.crethiplethi.com/libya-us-military-advisers-in-cyrenaica/usa/2011/

    In February 2011, a Qadhafi regime official claimed al-Qa’ida had
    “ established an emirate in Derna led by Abdal-Hakim Khalilal-Hasadi,
    a former Guantanamo detainee.”20
    The official claimed al-Hasadi’s lieutenant in nearby al-Baida,Kheirallah Baraassi,
    was also a member of al-Qa’ida.
    The following day, al-Hasadi refuted the claim he had established an emirate in Derna
    in a statement broadcast by Al Jazeera.21

    http://www.kronosadvisory.com/Kronos_A.View.To.Extremist.Currents.In.Libya_CondensedVersion.pdf

    Al-Hassadi led Derna’s Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade in last year’s revolution,
    As to his goals, Hakim al-Sadi explained to Fouchet that he had rejoined the jihad
    in order to “cut Gaddafi’s throat and establish an Islamic state.

    http://www.eastnews.pl/pictures/result/phrase/fouchet/page/3/

    http://counterjihadreport.com/2013/05/07/q-a-the-jihadist-plot-by-john-rosenthal/

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/mounting-evidence-of-cia-ties-to-libyan-rebels/

    http://japanfocus.org/-Peter_Dale-Scott/3504/article.html

    "He [Omar El- Hariri, Chief of Armed Forces for the Transitional National Council] remained
    under close surveillance by the security forces until Feb. 17, when the revolution started.

    http://fs2.directupload.net/images/150524/9g35ahs3.jpg
    benghazi Fadheel Katib , Feb 2011 , Hariri

    ReplyDelete
  14. February 21, 2011
    The website of the US-Libya Business Association (USLBA) was down on Monday as protests in the Arab nation targeting leader Muammar al-Gaddafi's 41-year regime dramatically intensified.

    USLBA, incorporated in 2005, describes itself as "the only U.S. trade association focusing on the United States and Libya," and has organized policy conferences attended by senior US officials.

    A Web cache of the group reveals that over a dozen oil and energy companies and military contractors
    are members of its executive advisory committee, including Dow Chemical, Chevron, Halliburton, Shell, Raytheon and Occidental Petroleum.

    http://www.rawstory.com/2011/02/oil-industrys-us-libya-business-group-sees-website-go-dark-amid-violent-uprising/

    American defense contractors also donated to the Clinton Foundation

    http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2015/05/26/clintons-state-department-approved-weapons-deals-to-governments-who-made-donations-to-their-foundation-n2003917

    ReplyDelete
  15. Already on Sunday, (20 February 2011) Sheikh Faraj al-Zuway, leader of the crucial al-Zuwayya tribe in eastern Libya, had threatened to cut oil exports to the West within 24 hours unless what he called the "oppression of protesters" in Benghazi was stopped.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/02/201122131439291589.html


    Dec. 1, 2014

    http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/547cd269eab8ea376ecdea8e-1200-924/mashallah-zwai-oil-minister-in-rival-prime-minister-omar-al-hassis-government.jpg

    Mashallah Zwai, Oil Minister in rival Prime Minister Omar al-Hassi's government
    http://www.businessinsider.com/opec-two-libyan-governments-2014-12


    24/02/2011 All southern oilfields are in rebel control. Moustafa Raba’a, a mechanical engineer with the Sirte oil company, said pressure had been put on field and refinery managers to stop work and protect all foreign nationals working with them.

    February 27, 2011 In Benghazi, the eastern city where the revolt began, rebels said that Libyan soldiers had joined the rebels in securing vital oil industry facilities around that part of the country.
    Some oil industry workers fleeing across the Tunisian border in recent days said they had seen Libyan soldiers fire their weapons to drive off foreign mercenaries or other security forces who had approached oil facilities not far from here.
    Hassan Bulifa, who sits on the management committee of the Arabian Gulf Oil Company, the country’s largest oil producer, said that the rebels control at least 80 percent of the country’s oil assets, and that his company, based in Benghazi, was cooperating with them.

    The company resumed oil shipments on Sunday,
    loading two tankers at a port in Tobruk, Mr. Bulifa said. The ships — one bound for Austria
    and the other for China — represented the company’s first shipments since Feb. 10.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/world/africa/28unrest.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0



    ReplyDelete
  16. April 5 2011

    The Equator tanker, which can carry 1 million barrels of oil, was chartered by
    Geneva-based oil trader Vitol SA and was to head for China once loaded,
    according to Rajab Sahnoun, a senior official at the rebel-controlled Arabian Gulf Oil Co. in Tobruk.

    http://www.npr.org/2011/04/05/135135700/rebels-libyan-military-convoy-hit-near-brega

    April 5, 2011 A U.S. envoy arrived Tuesday in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to begin talks on possible financial help to the Libyan opposition

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/us-libya-usa-order-idUSTRE72T6H220110330

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-envoy-arrives-in-libya-to-help-opposition-fighters/2011/04/05/AFTIV6lC_story.html

    http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/11/10/the-benghazi-brief-3/

    Gene Cretz, has been out of Tripoli for more than a month in the wake of the leaking of diplomatic cables by the website WikiLeaks. Feb. 21, 2011
    http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703498804576156074096202208

    ReplyDelete
  17. Mar 1, 2011
    http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/167578.html
    US, France, Britain set up bases in Libya

    The 600-strong infantry unit returned from Afghanistan in late 2009 and is based at Fort George near Inverness. “They’re ready, just in case,” said a source. [10]
    http://www.globalresearch.ca/nato-s-secret-ground-war-in-libya/24746

    “According to a document written in Hebrew, an agreement has been signed between Israel and the National Transitional Council (CNT) in Benghazi, Libya, concerning the creation of a Zionist military base
    in the Jebel Akhdar region, for a period of thirty years in case they come to power.”
    http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/6564.html

    training militants in a military base in the Green Mountain 10.05.2011

    http://libyasos.blogspot.com/2011/07/green-mountain-israels-millitary-base.html

    Unfortunately Euromed, the Barcelona process, has been a cruel deception for Israel
    http://www.bitterlemons-international.org/previous.php?opt=1&id=235

    June 7th, 2012 The official said that one militant commander operating in Derna, Abdulbasit Azuz,
    had complained that a drone strike had targeted his training camp in the east of Libya.  Last month, there were reports of explosions outside the Derna area in the vicinity of the camps, according to a different source.

    http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/07/senior-libyan-official-u-s-deploying-drones-as-concerns-rise-over-al-qaeda-in-eastern-libya/
    Date: 05/04/2013 An explosion occurred this morning Sunday, January 5th Target was an old abandoned camp of the Libyan army west of the city of Derna distance 30 kilometers on the coastal road between Dernah and Sousse.


    ReplyDelete
  18. A previously unknown team of British diplomats and military officials aided Libya's rebels
    by helping to cut the supply of oil to Moammar Gadhafi's military, an official confirmed Thursday.
    The team, based in London's foreign ministry, liaised with both NATO forces
    and the Libyan opposition, helping to coordinate effective tactics to choke off supplies of crude oil, shutter refinery facilities and stem the flow of fuel to the regime.  

    http://newsok.com/uk-unit-choked-off-gadhafis-fuel-supply/article/feed/291310

    A UK oil firm with links to the private-security sector is seeking a contract from Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) to provide security at oil installations and has been lobbying the UK’s foreign secretary for support, Petroleum Economist has learnt.
    http://www.petroleum-economist.com/Article/2905891/EXCLUSIVE-UK-firm-lobbies-Hague-over-Libya-security-deal.html

    On 28 August 2011 , Sweeting said he had visited infrastructure in Brega "to assess the extent of war damage". Two holding tanks had been destroyed and two damaged, he reported to Hague. He said the Brega visit was at the NTC's invitation.

    ReplyDelete
  19. 08-20-2011, 04:46 AM Urgent ... has been downloaded 1500 Thaer special forces led by Hifter
    in Tripoli by sea took control of Hotel Corinthia

    http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/31-Aug-2011/CIA-recruits-1500-from-MazareSharif-to-fight-in-Libya

    “Some members of the LIFG [Al Qaeda’s Libyan Islamic Fighting Group offshoot] in the past had connections with al Qaeda in Sudan, Afghanistan or Pakistan.


    20-8 2011 after the Taraweeh prayers Sheikh Salem Hariri was in the second car with carrier for anti aircraft
    entering the junction west from the bridge Qrgi /Gurji forum.kooora.29165504


    Robert Rowley ‏@RRowleyTucson 20 Aug 2011#Tripoli: #HayAlAndulus: Reports of #Gaddafi snipers
    on roof of the Aman Bank inear #Gurji. #Libya #Feb17


    http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=32.979724&lon=13.252258&z=12&m=b&show=/5312385/Gurji
    Duran Qrgi Island (Tripoli)
    http://wikimapia.org/9978223/ar/%D8%AC%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%8A

    32°52'4"N 13°8'14"E
    32°44'34"N 13°7'55"E Yamuk

    32°46'46"N 13°17'6"E Yamuk Khallet Alforjan

    ReplyDelete
  20. Azzouz

    2012-04-02 Al Watan : Mahmoud Othman Martyrs Brigade commander Misrata:
    Mr. "Ali Ibrahim Al Azzouz"
    found four mass graves , area tripoli
    “one grave here 210 bodies ,Tripoli Valley 40 , another nearby this area
    where approximately 10 to 70 , western Tripoli mass grave approximately 80 to 90 bodies “
    http://www.alwatan-libya.com/more.php?newsid=21081&catid=1

    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/al-qaeda-leader-in-libya-detained-in-turkey-report.aspx?PageID=238&NID=75197&NewsCatID=359

    Sept. 11, 2012. Abd al-Baset Azzouz, the leader of al-Qaeda in Libya, was reportedly detained last month in western Turkey after he entered with a fake passport

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2772495/Al-Qaeda-leader-Libya-detained-British-police-suspicion-terror-offences-later-released-fled-UK-train-bombers.html


    “At the exchange of the second 10 million dollars on August 28, a letter signed
    by Qassim Azzouz, the chairman of the Central Bank of Libya
    http://feb17.info/news/libyas-transitional-government-faces-questions-about-its-credibility/






    ReplyDelete
  21. February 04, 2015

    Mohamed El Harari, a spokesman for NOC

    http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_gunmen-storm-libyas-al-mabrook-oilfield-noc_371709.html

    "Unknown gunmen stormed the Mabrook oilfield last night," NOC spokesman Mohamed El Harari said, without providing details.

    Operations at the field, located south of Sirte, were closed following clashes which closed the Es Sider oil port in December.

    France's Total, which operates the field with NOC, said it had already withdrawn staff from the site.

    Sirte is home to members of the Ansar al-Sharia Islamist group. The region has seen fighting as armed groups vie for control of the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports.

    2015-05-24
    Libyan Planes Attack Oil Tanker

    Warplanes from Libya's official government attacked an oil tanker docked outside the city
    of Sirte on Sunday, wounding three people and setting the ship on fire, officials said.

    http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/libyan-planes-attack-oil-tanker

    Mohamed El Harari, a spokesman for Tripoli-based state oil firm NOC, said the Libyan tanker Anwar Afriqya had been carrying fuel for Sirte's power plant.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sun, Aug 28, 2011
    According to US and British media, at least half of the members of the NTC have moved from Benghazi

    to Tripoli, the key condition for the receipt of Qaddafi’s frozen assets and international aid.
    http://www.crethiplethi.com/pro-al-qaeda-brigades-control-qaddafi-tripoli-strongholds/jihad/2011/

    It was generally believed in Tripoli that the strongmen ruling the capital, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, ex-al Qaeda, and Ismail and Ali al-Sallabi, heads of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, only granted Abdul-Jalil’s wish
    for a big liberation rally in Benghazi after he agreed to declare the new Libya a Sharia state.

    But after the grand celebration is over, DEBKAfile’s sources report, the transitional leader
    will be little more than a figurehead.

    Even now, he is confined in Benghazi by the three strongmen,
    who control most parts of the capital, and have not given him permission
    to move the seat of the interim government to Tripoli.

    Abdul-Jalil is only allowed to pop over to receiving visiting foreign dignitaries.
    http://www.crethiplethi.com/libya-a-sharia-state/germany/2011/

    ReplyDelete
  23. 15 sep. 2011

    http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2011/09/15/islamists-already-rising-to-positions-of-prominence-in-new-libya/

    Islamist militias in Libya receive weapons and financing directly from foreign benefactors like Qatar;
    a Muslim Brotherhood figure, Abel al-Rajazk Abu Hajar, leads the Tripoli Municipal Governing Council, where Islamists are reportedly in the majority;
    in eastern Libya, there has been no resolution of the assassination in July of the leader
    of the rebel military, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, suspected by some to be the work of Islamists.

    http://libyanahits.fm/Libya-News.aspx?id=17

    A symbol of the Salafist influence in Tripoli was the destruction of Sufis shrines in August 2012.

    Several witnesses claimed that SSC members took part in the vandalism.
    Hashim Bishr replies: “Those who destroyed the shrines were from SSC but they did it not because there were SSC members but because they were Wahhabi followers.
    Personally, I stand at the opposite corner of these Wahhabis.

    But that day, when we came, the shrine was already destroyed.
    They were armed, we were armed,
    and it was not the right time to shoot at each other.
    So we asked them to leave, but buildings were already down.”

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/25/libyan-government-turns-to-ansar-al-sharia-militia-for-crime-fighting-help.html

    Nawasi militiamen were involved in the illegal demolition of an historic Sufi mosque in central Tripoli last summer

    Abdalrauv Karah battalion commander Nawasi

    ReplyDelete
  24. http://jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/mapjib.jpg

    Libya Shield 1 Force: Led by Wisam Ben Hamid, the Libyan Shield 1 Force has four brigades across the country ….The Libyan Shield Militia is affiliated with Misrata and close to the Brotherhood and recently allied with Ansar al-Shari’ah
    http://jcpa.org/article/the-libyan-quagmire/


    For instance, a March 2012 report from Dunia al-Watan, a Palestinian newspaper, published a video-illustrated article describing a military parade reportedly organized by Katiba al-A’hrar Libya (Free Libya), commanded by Wisam Ben Hamid, in the city of Sirt,

    a former Qadhafi stronghold, that looked like an al-Qaeda–type demonstration.

    The article pointed at Wisam, a 35-year-old Libyan from the town of Darnah, as the leader of al-Qaeda in Libya. The same article reported that Mokhtar Bel Mokhtar, the leader of AQIM in the Sahara, attended the parade as the honored guest of Wisam.29

    However, Wisam was also cited by Thawrat Libya, a Libyan news outlet,
    as the leader of Dir’ Libya (Shield of Libya), a katiba involved in the fight
    against
    the African Tubu minority in Kufra, a town in southestern Libya, on behalf of the Libyan army.

    Dir’ Libya may be another name for Katiba al-A’hrar Libya that was given in the context
    of fighting the Tubu minority, which the militiamen accused of separatist ambitions.30

    http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/LOC-AQ-Libya.pdf

    http://dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2290/Meet-Wissam-bin-Hamid-Uncle-Sams-Jihadist-Security-Officer.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  25. Wisam Ben Hamid and his lieutenant Hayaka Alla that fights under al-Qaeda’s flag,
    is involved in the fight, siding with the Arab tribes in Kufra and Sabha against the Tubu.16
    http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/LOC-AQ-Libya.pdf


    Al-Ghayed, who played a leading role in the revolution following his release
    from prison in February last year, is running for election in his hometown of Morzug in southern Libya
    http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/07/06/a_current_of_faith?page=full

    Abdulwahab al-Ghayed, brother of Abu Yahya al Libi, who was recently killed by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan.

    On 5 August, Alain Juppé, the French foreign minister, claimed that the southern regions
    of Libya are "practically under the NTC's control".[16]
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fezzan_campaign

    Much of the crime is being blamed on drugs. “Drug trafficking is becoming one
    of our most serious problems,” says Abd Al-Wahhab Muhammad Qaid,
    chairman of Libya’s Parliament’s security committee.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/25/libyan-government-turns-to-ansar-al-sharia-militia-for-crime-fighting-help.html

    ReplyDelete
  26. International oil companies were the first to return to the country after the uprising,
    helping oil production return to almost pre-war levels of 1.6 million barrels per day.
    http://soclibya.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html

    14 September 2012 The consulate attack was only the bloodiest and most recent violence
    in Libya's second city; the seat of last year's February 17 revolution,
    it has a history of militant Islam, previously directed against Gaddafi,
    and deep grievances over western Libya's control of oil pumped out of the east.


    Officials have long spoken of plans to train thousands of former rebel fighters guarding Libya's oil infrastructure under an umbrella oil protection force. However progress has been slow as central authorities remain weak and fighters hold sway.
    Shakmak said late U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens had been involved in discussions about security in the oil sector.
    A Libyan oil source has said he had been due to meet officials at Libya's Arabian Gulf Oil Company the day after the attack.

    http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/20/libya-oil-attack-idINL5E8KJID220120920

    The Borders, Petroleum and Critical Infrastructure Guards (“Border Guards”)
    (18,000, variously under Chief of Staff, Min. Defence, Military Governor of the South);
    https://www.csis.gc.ca/pblctns/wrldwtch/2014/20140423-en.php

    the Border Guard and Petroleum Facilities Guard are fragmented into a high number of battalions and networks of different political outlook and community background.

    https://crossedcrocodiles.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/where-africom-is-active-in-africa-may-2013/

    ReplyDelete
  27. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/02/18/25C4A56500000578-2958517-image-a-21_1424269062824.jpg

    oil ports and fields

    http://www.osborneink.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Libyan-Oil-Fields-map.gif
    https://i2.wp.com/content.edgar-online.com/edgar_conv_img/2008/05/21/0001311435-08-000008_SJ20F07LIBYA.GIF

    https://i0.wp.com/graphics.thomsonreuters.com/RNGS/2011/AUG/LIBOIL_JP.jpg

    https://twitter.com/AbishurPrakash/status/601151024372449281

    Indeed in the period from January 2012 to March 2013, Libyan oil exports bounced back admirably,
    even flirting with their Gaddafi-era highs of over 1.6 million bpd.

    Back then there was an unspoken agreement between tribal and political antagonists that,
    despite all of the disagreements separating them, it was still in everyone’s best interest
    to protect the economic lifeblood of the nation,
    the source of virtually all government expenditures from military and infrastructure to civil servant salaries.

    http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/libya-oil-report-05-26-15/

    http://soclibya.blogspot.com/2012/09/security-fears-cloud-libyan-oil-growth.html

    ReplyDelete
  28. November 14, 2013

    http://www.aberfoylesecurity.com/?p=759

    BERBERS SEIZE LIBYAN OIL TERMINAL TO PRESS DEMAND FOR RECOGNITION

    The Berber gunmen are led by Adel al-Falu, a former Libyan army officer
    once tasked with protecting the Mellitah terminal.

    With oil exports from the terminal halted, al-Falu is now seeking to halt gas exports
    through trans-Mediterranean pipelines to Italy,
    with the objective of pressuring Italy and the European Union to force Libya’s GNC
    to recognize the Amazigh language (Reuters, November 8).

    Most of the 50 to 75 gunmen occupying Mellitah arrived from the nearby town of Zuwara
    in coast-guard boats the Berbers seized during the 2011 revolution.

    Many of the occupiers are veterans of the revolution.

    http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/9734/northafricapipelinesmap.jpg
    pipelines


    ReplyDelete
  29. 11 April 2014
    Sirte was the scene of armed clashes between militias under the control of federalist leader Ibrahim Jadhran
    and Central Libya Shield in March when Jadhran’s Cyrenaica Defence Force entered the town
    before being pushed back to the Red Valley to the east losing several truckloads of arms
    to the Misratans in the process.
    ...
    A Benghazi brigade, the Zawia Martyrs Brigade, which is attached to the Saiqa force,
    was assigned to ensure stability in Sirte in early 2012 but has since become a target for both Qaddafi loyalists and other militants.

    Last month five of the brigade’s members were killed in Sirte after a heat-seeking missile hit their vehicle.

    It is not known who fired it
    .Nuiari said that as  Central Libya Shield were preparing to leave there had been some clashes in the town but that the Misratan-led force was not involved.

    http://libyaherald.com/2014/04/11/central-libya-shield-forces-pull-out-from-sirte-airbase/

    http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/libyan-shield-force-lsf

    The Libyan Shield Force was formed during 2012 and is an umbrella militia inclusive of both federalists and Islamists groups from east Misrata and Zintan.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Quoting WikiLeaks Cyrenaica:SIRTE:Presidency of the General Staff decided to appoint
    Colonel Jamal Zahawy as successor to the late colonel Bohlaiqah

    https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1572348453006941
    VIDEO  :  BATAILLON DU  MARTYR  SALAH  BU-HULAIGA DIRIGE  PAR  LE  COLONEL  JAMAL  AL-ZAHAWY 14-01-2015.

    Mohammad al-Zahawi (note the al-Qaeda flag).
    http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Mohammad_Al_Zahawi.jpg

    http://shoebat.com/2014/01/11/state-caves-bit-benghazi-still-avoids-egypt-link/

    If Ansar Al-Sharia in Benghazi is now officially a terrorist organization, doesn’t that necessarily make al-Zahawi one too? Why isn’t his name included in the release? Not identifying the wide range of individuals and groups the administration must know is involved is beyond disconcerting.

    http://www.un.org/sc/committees/1267/AQList.htm
    The leader is Mohamed al-Zahawi (not listed).


    Tripoli, 6 December 2013: Colonel Salah Buhulaiga, the commander of the Zawia Martyrs Brigade in Sirte, was killed early this morning, apparently in a car crash.
    The accident, at around 3am, happened at Bukrain, half way between Misrata and Sirte,
    at the junction with the road heading down to Hun and Sebha.

    The head of the SSC in Tripoli, Hashem Bishr, told the Libya Herald that intelligence contacts and members of the brigade in Sirte had confirmed to him that the death
    was an accident.

    http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/12/06/buhulaiga-killed-in-traffic-accident/#ixzz2mkrSwlua


    Since Dec. 13, Libya Dawn militias have launched a military operation, called "Sunrise Operation to
    liberate oil ports and fields," to take control of the Oil Crescent area, claiming they have been mandated by the expired General National Congress.

    The Oil Crescent area includes a group of cities between the cities of Benghazi and Sirte,
    500 km east of the capital Tripoli.

    It contains the largest oil reserves in the country,
    in addition to the ports of Sidra, Ras Lanuf, and Brega, the country's largest ones.
    http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/899412.shtml


    ReplyDelete
  31. Aug 25th 2014
    The resolution of the airport battle comes as Khalifa Haftar, a former general loosely allied with the Zintanis, is stalling in his self-declared war against Islamists in eastern Libya.

    The country’s hapless government looks increasingly shaky. Most of its members are scattered outside Tripoli and the justice minister said he was resigning this week.

    Many Libyans fear a scenario where the elected parliament, supported by Mr Hiftar’s forces and tribal militias in the east, vies with a self-declared government in the capital buttressed by Misrata’s militias and their allies.

    http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2014/08/libya

    http://rt.com/news/182380-libya-islamists-seize-airport/


    WHO IS MAJLIS SHURA SHABAB AL-ISLAM?
    http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-islamic-states-first-colony-in-libya

    MSSI publicly announced its existence on April 4, when masked members of the group took to the streets of Darnah

    ReplyDelete
  32. Apr 16, 2014
    Is the U.S. secretly training Libyan militiamen in the Canary Islands? And if not, are they planning to?

    http://www.salon.com/2014/04/16/militias_and_mayham_the_truth_about_american_military_assistance_in_libya_partner/
    November 7, 2014

    Italy has trained 1,320 Libyans in Libya and 185 in Italy.But the US reported that many of these, on returning to Libya, joined militias rather than the army.

    http://portside.org/2014-11-08/nato%E2%80%99s-plan-train-libyan-soldiers-disaster-start
    10/28/2014

    The Sudan has trained a bunch of radical Islamists to fly helicopters and planes.

    These radical Islamists were delivered to Libya yesterday via Mitiga airport
    under the control of Al Qaeda leader Abdulhakim Belhaj.
    Today, these radicals working with Misurata Islamic mafia and all other radical groups in Libya, began to fly their planes and helicopters against the people of Tripoli.

    They have blocked roads and are shooting at innocent people to try and stave off the inevitable fall of their corrupt illegal hold on Tripoli.
    http://linkis.com/com/TB9VU

    ReplyDelete
  33. September 5, 2014

    Egypt, the UAE and Arab Military Intervention in Libya

    Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry was adamant that Egypt was not involved in
    “any military activity and does not have any military presence on Libyan territories,”
    all of which might be technically true if Egypt only provided use of an air base to a UAEAF mission (al-Jazeera, August 26).
    http://www.jamestown.org/regions/middleeast/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=42790&tx_ttnews[backPid]=678&cHash=cb757761da36a009f5a9c165412db04e#.VWRYT0YavLM
    ·
    The absence of state control over Libyan borders, seaports and airports raises a host of security concerns;

    · New armed Islamist groups operating in the greater Cairo region and the Nile Valley (possibly including returnees from the fighting in Syria and Iraq) may seek arms supplies from Libya transported over the largely defenseless southern region of the border between Libya and Egypt.

    · Libya could provide a rallying point for Egyptian jihadists, likely in the newly-declared “Islamic Emirate of Benghazi” (see Terrorism Monitor, August 7).

    Oct. 1, 2014, Sudan is supporting Islamists in Libya
    The Libyan boarder is totally secured, especially after the victory of our allies (Libya Dawn Forces) [Ed note: see here] in Tripoli.

    We managed to reach to them the weapons and military equipment donated by Qatar
    and Turkey and we formed a joint operations room under a colonel for coordination purposes with them on how to administer the military operations.

    Turkey and Qatar provided us with information in favor of the revolutionaries on top of the information collected by our own agents that benefit them to win the war and control the whole country. [Emphasis ours]

    http://www.businessinsider.co.id/an-intimate-look-inside-the-sudanese-regime-2014-9/#.VWR19kYavLM



    ReplyDelete
  34. 13 December 2014

    On Saturday 13 December, air forces belonging to Khalifa Haftar’s Operation Dignity attacked military forces and convoys of the Misratan-led Libya Dawn camp
    that were heading towards the oil ports
    of Ras Lanuf and Sidra.

    The Misratan moves comes after weeks of talking about pushing Eastward to challenge
    the HoR and the Federalists control of these key locations.
    It is likely that a number of factors fed into the decision of Libya Dawn to send out its troop at this particular stage,
    allegedly under a mandate received from the rump GNC active in Tripoli.

    http://www.libya-analysis.com/libya-dawn-offensive-against-the-oil-ports-kicks-off/

    Firstly, Thinni’s cabinet recently took concrete steps to establish a new headquarters
    and new bank accounts for the National Oil Corporation
    in a bid to divert all international payments for Libyan oil directly under the control of the Tubruq-based establishment.

    ReplyDelete
  35. 27 December 2014

    Islamic militants have fired rockets from speedboats at Libya's largest port
    in an attempt to seize control of the fiercely contested resource
    amid warnings the country is descending into chaos like that in Syria.

    Last night a rocket set three storage tanks ablaze at the eastern Libyan oil port of Al-Sidra as armed factions allied to competing governments fought over control of the country's biggest export terminal.

    Rebels from a group called Libya Dawn, which helped to topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011,
    seized control of the capital Tripoli in August - exiling the internationally recognised government east.

    The group, which is responsible for the attack which left the tanks ablaze, are now engaged in a bitter power struggle with the incumbent government fought primarily over the country's resources.

    Ali Hassi, spokesman for a security service allied to the country's east-based internationally-recognised government, said the rival force tried taking the Al-Sidra with speedboats, opening fire on an oil tank.

    Ismail al-Shukri, a spokesman for the rival force, said it had launched a new push to take the ports but denied it had sent boats or shot at any storage tanks.

    He blamed the other side, saying aircraft had attacked the tank.
    'A tank was hit but the damage is limited,' Hassi said, adding that the advance had been stopped with aircraft and ground troops.

    Clashes were also reported from Sirte, a city west of Al-Sidra, killing up to 19,
    among them 14 guards at a power plant, residents said.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2888269/Libya-s-largest-oil-port-ablaze-rebels-launch-rocket-strikes-amid-warnings-country-descend-chaos.html#ixzz3b6HQpi1h

    ReplyDelete
  36. January 5, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The internationally-recognised Libyan government announced on Monday a ban on the entry of citizens from Sudan, Syria and Palestine

    Libya’s interior minister Omar al-Sanki attributed the decision to Intel suggesting that citizens from these countries are flocking in to join “terrorist groups” fighting the Libyan army in Benghazi and other cities in the western part of the country.

    Furthermore, citizens from Malta will now require prior clearance from Libya’s interior ministry to gain entry in light of information that some Maltese provided logistical support
    to Islamist “Dawn of Libya” militias which are now in control of Tripoli.

    Last September, Libyan government said Sudan was arming "terror" groups after an arms-laden Sudanese plane touched down in southern Libya, allegedly bound for a military airbase in Tripoli held by mostly Islamist militias who seized the capital in August.

    But Sudan has vehemently denied accusations of backing any side in the Libyan conflict, saying the weapons were shipped for the use of a joint force between the two countries.

    It is widely viewed that Qatar, Turkey and Sudan are backing Islamist militias
    while countries like Egypt and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are backing Heftar.

    Tripoli warned that it might sever ties with Khartoum and Doha over their alleged interference.

    On Sunday, a minister in the Libyan government told London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that information obtained Libyan military intelligence indicated
    that Sudanese technicians had assisted pilots from the Libyan Dawn group
    in commandeering a plane that struck oil tanks in the Sidra port during the past week.

    The attack launched on Libya’s largest oil terminal saw militants fire rockets from speedboats, setting alight huge oil tanks and causing Libya’s oil production to plunge
    by two-thirds, to 350,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to the state oil company.

    http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article53566


    ReplyDelete
  37. Sources told Al-Akhbar that UK and US diplomats have sent explicit messages
    to the two sides, the gist being more or less
    that he who controls the oil wells and export terminals will receive international cover
    to rule Libya.

    And indeed, the map of the battles is consistent with what these sources are saying.

    http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/23106

    In the meantime, France has been stepping up its rhetoric about the presence of terrorist elements in southern Libya.
    France has also sent reinforcements to Niger and Chad, and refurbished an old military base at Madama, 100 km from the border with Libya, while putting pressure on Chadian President to send forces to Libya to fight alongside the Tabu against the Tuareg.

    Recently, French Defense Minister Le Drian visited Nigel and before it Chad, calling explicitly for international action against terrorism in Libya.

    http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/01/07/391971/Sahel-urges-intl-intervention-in-Libya

    Mali says African Sahel countries have urged the deployment of an international force in Libya in a bid to counter the rising threat of militants.

    ReplyDelete
  38. January 6 2015

    “A NATO-style operation? Let's not dream,” a French government source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/libya-chaos-poses-threat-to-europe-1.1801607#.VWJ6WUYavLM


    January 17th 2015
    An Islamist-backed militia alliance on Friday announced a ceasefire in conflict-strewn Libya, following an agreement at UN-brokered peace talks between warring factions.

    The militias have agreed to "a ceasefire on all fronts" in the North African country on condition that "the other parties respect the truce", Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) said in a statement.

    http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/57966-150117-militias-announce-libya-truce-after-geneva-accord

    http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refdaily?pass=52fc6fbd5&id=54e6e5e55

    Fighters from the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) militia hold a position during clashes with forces loyal to Libya's internationally recognised government as they fight for the control of the area near the Wetia military air base on February 4, 2015 in al-Aqrabiyah, some 170 kilometres west of the capital Tripoli ( southwest of Sabratha)

    https://www.profimedia.bg/0214571866

    ReplyDelete
  39. February 17, 2015
    ISIS atrocity in Libya demonstrates its growing reach in North Africa
    ISIS' presence in Sirte, a town of 50,000, has been growing.

    The Egyptians were abducted in November, and more recently, the extremists strengthened their presence by taking over government buildings and a radio station.

    ISIS first announced itself in Libya in October.

    Amateur video showed a large crowd of militants in Derna affiliated with
    the Shura Council for the Youth of Islam chanting their allegiance to al-Baghdadi.

    Sources told CNN at the time that ISIS had up to 800 fighters in the area
    as well as training facilities in the nearby Green Mountains.

    They were bolstered by the return from Syria and Iraq of up to 300 Libyan jihadists.

    A short while later, al-Baghdadi recognized three Libyan "provinces": Barqa (in the east), Tripolitania (west) and Fezzan (south) as being part of the "caliphate."

    Since then, ISIS has stepped up its presence across Libya.

    Late last month, a suicide bombing and gun attack on a hotel in the capital, Tripoli,
    killed 10 people, including an American. The attack was swiftly claimed by Wilayat al-Tarabulus, ISIS' name for the province.
    Politicians in Tripoli disputed the claim.

    ISIS has also been active in southern Libya, attacking a Libyan army checkpoint
    in Sokhna in January and killing 16 people.

    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/16/africa/isis-libya-north-africa/

    The Italian government has suggested an international peacekeeping presence in Libya.

    Italy is acutely aware that it's the jumping-off point for a growing flow of migrants
    and a base camp for terrorism, just hours across the Mediterranean.

    Bernardino Leon, U.N. envoy to Libya, has floated the idea of international monitors
    when a peace agreement between rival factions is hammered out.

    Islamic militants have fired rockets from speedboats at Libya's largest port in an attempt
    to seize control of the fiercely contested resource amid warnings the country is descending into chaos like that in Syria.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Egyptian jets bombed Derna in February after ISIS published a video showing the beheading
    of 21 Egyptian Christians.
    ISIS and other militant groups have established a large presence in the eastern coastal town.Critics say the official government's outdated planes often hit civilian targets.

    Two foreign seamen were killed when a Greek-operated fuel tanker docked at Derna port was bombed in January. The government said it had been transporting arms.

    A Tripoli-based state oil firm said it had been carrying fuel for a power plant.

    https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/May-06/297012-libyas-official-government-conducts-air-strikes-on-militants-in-eastern-city.ashx





    21 Feb 2015 19:05 Reuters
    Attackers fired rockets at eastern Libya's Labraq airport on Saturday, an airport source said,
    targeting one of the oil producer's few functioning air hubs in a country gripped by violence.

    The airport attack came a day after militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State killed more than 40 people
    in suicide car bombings in Qubbah, a town some 50 km away.

    Labraq is located near Bayda, the seat of internationally recognised Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni
    since he had to flee the capital Tripoli when it was taken over by an armed group in August which set up a rival government and parliament.

    Helicopters took off from Labraq on Friday hours after the suicide bombings to attack militant targets in Derna, according to a military source.

    The militants claiming responsibility for the Qubbah bombings
    had said in a statement they had acted in revenge for Egyptian air strikes on Islamic State targets in Derna on Monday, a day after the group released a video showing the execution of Egyptian Copts.

    ReplyDelete
  41. 18 February 2015

    ISIS threatens to send 500,000 migrants to Europe as a 'psychological weapon'

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2958517/The-Mediterranean-sea-chaos-Gaddafi-s-chilling-prophecy-interview-ISIS-threatens-send-500-000-migrants-Europe-psychological-weapon-bombed.html


    March 30 2011
    In Europe, Italy is especially vulnerable to threats by Gaddafi to bomb his own oilfields and to unleash a massive wave of illegal immigrants.

    Because of its location, that country is already dealing with
    the exodus of large numbers of Tunisians
    and would be the natural entry point for Libyans as well.

    http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2011/03/30/Libya-Whats-Really-behind-the-US-

    Action
    Italy, like other countries in the E.U., is already struggling and in no position to support a wave of dependent newcomers.

    At the same time, Italy has sizeable economic interests in its former colony — its
    state-owned oil company is the largest in the North African nation.



    ReplyDelete
  42. May 3, 2015

    Sidra is controlled by Ibrahim Jadran, former head of Libya’s 22,000 strong oilfield security force,
    whom the notoriously racist and anti-African Libyan Dawn views as a “thief”.

    Much of eastern Libya regards him as “Robin Hood”, however.
    Mr Jadran gained popular support by demanding that, rather than importing skilled labour from Tripoli or Misrata, locals from this poorer region should be employed in the oil terminals.

    Misratans said Mr Jadran simply gave jobs to men from his own Magharba tribe.

    The fighting has reduced the combined production of Sidra and Ras Lanuf from approximately 550,000 barrels a day to zero.
    Sharara, the country’s second largest oilfield is also out of use, after militias from the mountain town of Zintan closed the taps of its pipeline in an attempt to lever power.

    http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-protesters-end-strike-eastern-port-brega-spokesman-095958103.html

    ReplyDelete
  43. Monday, March 09, 2015
    http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2015/03/inside-libya-how-battle-for-oil-has.html

    Mashala Zwai, the oil minister for one of Libya's two rival regimes, warned that the country was becoming "a second Somalia".

    On Friday, gunmen attacked al-Ghani oilfield south of the coastal city of Sirte,
    killing 11 workers and kidnapping 10 foreign employees, including one Czech and one Austrian national. In recent days Isil claimed it had seized the Mabrouk, Bahi and Dahra oilfields.

    In most of the attacks, the extremists have reportedly sought out workers from Misrata,
    the city now providing most of the fighters to Libyan Dawn, and which also played a key role in the 2011 war.

    With the country entirely dependent on its income from oil and gas, it was in everyone's interests to protect it.

    The conflict is complicated by international players taking sides, with Egypt, the UAE and Russia
    backing the Tobruk government.
    Qatar and Turkey have supported Libyan Dawn, encouraging its alliance with Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood.


    oil-pipeline terminals at al-Sidr and Ras Lanuf.
    The federalist militias allied with Hifter’s forces currently control the oil-pipeline terminals at al-Sidr and Ras Lanuf.

    Their commander, Ibrahim Jathran, rose to notoriety in 2013 for seizing the ports
    to compel the Tripoli-based government to grant easterners more control over oil revenues
    .
    Jathran, who was ironically part of the guard force meant to protect those facilities, tried unsuccessfully last year to sell the oil on the black market.
    After the Dignity-Dawn split, Jathran aligned himself with Hifter and the Tobruk-based parliament.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/the-battle-for-libyas-oil/385285/

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/10/us-libya-security-oil-idUSKBN0M61O620150310

    ReplyDelete
  44. March 10, 2015

    ISIS militants believed to be holding 9 foreign oil workers in Libya
    Nine foreign workers are believed to be in the hands of ISIS-affiliated militants after an attack on a Libyan oil field, according to officials.

    Libya's internationally recognized government has blamed "ISIS militias" for the attack Friday in which the Al-Ghani oil field was set on fire.

    The kidnapped foreigners were working for VAOS, an Austrian-owned oil services company whose headquarters are in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

    They include four Filipinos, an Austrian, a Czech and a Ghanaian, according to the Philippine foreign ministry.
    The Bangladeshi government said one of its citizens was also taken hostage.
    The nationality of the ninth worker was unclear.

    The abductions come amid Libya's deteriorating security situation in which Islamic militias, some of them pledging allegiance to the extremist group ISIS, have thrived.

    Egypt carried out airstrikes against ISIS militants in Libya last month after the killings of Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped while working in a Libyan city.

    The attack on Al-Ghani is the latest in a recent spate of violence by militants targeting oil fields in Libya.

    The Libyan National Oil Corporation said over the weekend that it had warned VAOS
    more than two weeks ago to leave the area because of security concerns.
    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/10/africa/libya-isis-foreigners-abducted/index.html












    ReplyDelete
  45. 15 April 2015 Wednesday

    Tobruk army strikes camp in Libya's Tripoli

    http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/157921/tobruk-army-strikes-camp-in-libyas-tripoli

    Libya's Tobruk-backed army on Wednesday carried out an airstrike against a military camp in eastern Tripoli, a local security source has said.

    The camp is located in Tajura, a town in eastern Tripoli, according to Moezeldin al-Hawat,
    a police officer from the Tripoli Security Directorate.
    He said the camp had been empty for several years, noting that it was located in an area controlled
    by the Tripoli-backed Dawn of Libya militia.
    The Tobruk-backed army has been targeting sites in Tripoli for the last several weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  46. 22/5/2015

    http://www.correspondents.org/node/6404
    A plan to stop the conflict has been drafted, but agreement might be just as difficult as a ceasefire.

    27 May 2015
    http://www.offshore-technology.com/news/newseni-discovers-gas-condensates-offshore-libya-4586325
    Eni discovers gas and condensates offshore Libya


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRqvtTAUuaA
    ISIL #IslamicState release photos of members training in a camp in #Benghazi #Libya
    https://twitter.com/ASanalla/status/603595912288595968
    27 May 2015

    IS Nawfaliya 28 May 2015
    http://nasheer.me/rebat4/

    ReplyDelete
  47. https://twitter.com/richardhowitt/status/603848124491239424
    conference on #Libya crisis. 28 May 2015

    05.27.15 A newly revealed classified document and a history of grave misjudgments warn against the dangers of the new E.U. plan to stop migrants.

    Tunisians—and Top E.U. Generals—Fear Mission Creep Madness in Libya Jamie Dettmer

    Europe’s defense chiefs are warning their political superiors that the planned military mission to stop migrant-smuggling boats crossing the Mediterranean can lead to land operations in Libya and possible clashes with the Islamic State’s affiliate in that failing North African state, a turn of events bound to threaten neighboring Tunisia’s fragile equilibrium still further.

    The European commanders’ counsel contradicts the public assurances that Europe’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has been offering, which promise the intervention against the traffickers won’t involve “boots on the ground.”

    The warnings are contained in a 10-page classified document by the military defense chiefs of the 28 European Union member states, obtained and posted by Wikileaks on Tuesday.

    The military commanders raised serious questions about the intervention and recommended a timetable that would not see the mission swing into full gear until
    after the summer, long past the height of the smuggling season.

    In a section headlined “operational risk,” defense chiefs noted there will be a serious threat to European forces mounting the interdiction, “especially during activities such as boarding and when operating on land or in proximity to an unsecured coastline, or during interaction with non-seaworthy vessels.”

    They added: “The potential presence of hostile forces, extremists or terrorists such as Da'esh [ISIS] should also be taken into consideration.”
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/27/tunisians-and-top-e-u-generals-fear-mission-creep-madness-in-libya.html

    ReplyDelete
  48. TUNIS — In this small North African country where the Arab Spring started
    and chaos now threatens from every direction, developments in Europe are followed with growing anxiety.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/27/tunisians-and-top-e-u-generals-fear-mission-creep-madness-in-libya.html

    The removal of Ben Ali in January 2011 was followed by the beginning of the Libyan revolution against Gaddafi, which rapidly evolved into civil war.

    The main Tunisian leader of 2011, Beji Caid El Sebsi, was in a delicate situation.
    Neutrality was almost impossible in the Libya conflict for a country as close as Tunisia.
    So El Sebsi played on two cords.

    Fearing Gaddafi's revenge, but also aware of the possible implications of being too distant from the protagonists (NATO, Turkey, Gulf Cooperation Council) on the future of Tunisia,
    he kept a neutral position as a facade, and allowed Gaddafi loyalists to enter Tunisia and use its roads, airports, banks and other facilities.

    Yet he also approved shipments of arms to the rebels, through NATO (especially their Qatari and Emirati allies) canals.

    Tunisia's borders were also open to hundreds of thousands of refugees coming.

    El Sebsi's policies helped Tunisia get Libyan assets, and also international aid and acclaim (IACE, 2014).
    http://mailing.iace.tn/public_html/article/IACE-YCherif-Libya-and-Tunisia-For-Worse-or-for-Better.pdf


    APRIL 29: The Tunisian Foreign Ministry expressed its “extreme indignation” to the Libyan government after fighting between pro-Qaddafi forces and rebels spilled into its territory near the border towns of Wezen in Libya and Dehiba in Tunisia.

     Pro-Qaddafi forces and rebels have been fighting for control of Wezen for days,
    hoping to capture the border post that is the lifeline of the rebellion in the Western Mountains.
    Tunisian troops are reported to have clashed with and captured pro-Qaddafi soldiers on Tunisian soil. BBC





    ReplyDelete
  49. As the war was touching to an end, Tunisian officials set up a high-level task force,
    under the ministry of employment,to study the upcoming opportunities of state building and reconstruction in Libya.

    Caid El Sebsi even staged a visit to Tripoli in October 2011, before Gaddafi's killing.

    International investors showed their interest in developing ties between the two countries as well, funding bilateral projects.iii

    Moreover , Libya's leader Mustapha Abdeljalil said that Tunisia would be one of the major investors in Libya, because of its support to the Libyan revolution.

    Libyan aid , however,remained very limited

    . The promises of Libya's new leaders never saw the light, especially with the growing political, security and economic issues.iv

    Moreover, Libyans kept asking Tunisians to be more cooperative and
    hand over former Gaddafi affiliates.

    There were threats to close the borders (by militias affiliated to the Libyan government), as well as new promises for more economic partnership,if Tunisia cooperated.

    Baghdadi Mahmoudi, Gaddafi's last prime minister,who was under arrest in Tunisia,was handed in this context(June 2012).

    http://mailing.iace.tn/public_html/article/IACE-YCherif-Libya-and-Tunisia-For-Worse-or-for-Better.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  50. What Future?

    The disintegration of the Libyan state is threatening Tunisia.
    How long will Libya be able to extract its natural resources, which is its main source of revenue? And how long will it last as a united country?

    These two questions raise other interrogations in Tunisia.
    If there is a fragmentation of Libya, the western part of the country, of which Tripoli and Misrata
    are the main cities, and which is adjacent to the Tunisian borders, will be detached from the eastern part and the southern region(both rich in oil).

    Western Libya is the most populated area in the country, with disproportionate natural resources to its demographics:

    Tunisia can then suddenly find itself faced with a poor population knocking at its gates.

    Such security and humanitarian situation is a worrisome scenario.
    http://mailing.iace.tn/public_html/article/IACE-YCherif-Libya-and-Tunisia-For-Worse-or-for-Better.pdf


    http://itouchmap.com/?c=ly&UF=-722457&UN=-1030287&DG=PLN

    ReplyDelete
  51. 28 May 2015
    http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/180320-tunisia-arrests-2nd-morocco-suspect-in-bardo-attack

    Tunisia Arrests 2nd Morocco Suspect in Bardo Attack

    Tunisia has arrested a second Moroccan suspect over a deadly attack in March on the Bardo museum in Tunis, detaining him at the border with Libya,
    the interior ministry said Thursday.

    Noureddine al-Naibi was arrested on Sunday at the Ras Jedir border post
    on suspicion of indirect involvement in the attack, ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told AFP.

    He said the suspect was using a forged passport.

    Last week, a young Moroccan man was arrested in Italy
    for allegedly helping in the March 18 attack carried out by two Tunisians who gunned down 21 tourists and a policeman before they were killed.

    ReplyDelete

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