Revolutie in Libi� #116: Met vallen en opstaan

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Op zaterdag 16 november 2013 21:58 schreef Aloulou het volgende:

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Zoals je zelf al zegt heeft de overheid gewoon niet genoeg macht (militaire macht) om milities desnoods met wapengekletter te ontwapenen. Staat is zwak, vrijwel niet aanwezig. Niet alleen op dit gebied, maar alle gebieden. Zal nog wel aantal jaren duren op zijn minst, daarnaast blijft vergaand federalisme ook op de loer liggen.

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Op zaterdag 16 november 2013 23:31 schreef theunderdog het volgende:
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/(...)eting-protest-libie/

Waarom doet de militie dit? De demonstranten vormde totaal geen bedreiging.

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Libya clashes: Misrata militia ordered out of Tripoli

"The demonstrations look as if they have been partly successful", reports Rana Jawad

Militia groups from the Libyan city of Misrata have been ordered to leave the capital, Tripoli, within three days following deadly clashes there.

Libya's deputy intelligence chief was abducted on Sunday but has since been freed, military sources told the BBC.

Two years after its revolution, Libya still lacks a stable government.

The rival militias which helped topple Col Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 have so far refused to disarm.

No group has said it abducted the deputy head of the intelligence agency, Mustafa Nuh, but militias have seized senior officials before to get political leverage.

Mr Nuh was bundled into a car after arriving at Tripoli international airport on Sunday, but military sources told the BBC he was later released.

He was kidnapped with former rebel commander Alaa al-Hafs, who managed to escape, reports the BBC's Rana Jawad from Tripoli.

Mr Hafs told the BBC Mr Nuh had been taken captive by men from the western town of Zintan who had beaten him up.

Mr Nuh was freed following the intervention of the Shura Council of Zintan, made up of local elders, he said.

Zintan has the most powerful brigades in Tripoli and some of them are loosely attached to the defence ministry, our correspondent says.

Most of their bases are on the road leading to the airport, she adds.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was held hostage for several hours by gunmen in October, before being released unharmed.

Positive development

At least 43 people were killed on Friday and Saturday when Misrata gunmen opened fire on protesters who were demanding they leave Tripoli.

In a joint statement on Sunday, Misrata's local council and the council of elders said all militia groups from the city - without exception - must pull out of Tripoli within 72 hours.

The statement said Libya's national congress and government were responsible for securing Tripoli.

Shortly afterwards, Khalil al-Ruwaiti, who heads a unit under the Misrata Shield brigade, confirmed to the BBC that his fighters would leave the capital.

The Misrata Shield brigade is nominally attached to the ministry of defence, but - like other Shield groups - is viewed by people as having a semi-official status that can operate independently when it chooses to, the BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli reports.

The brigade is not part of the militias which clashed with the protesters on Friday.

Emotions have been running high in Tripoli after the clashes, and Misrata's statement will be seen as a positive development, our correspondent says.
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Dozens of protesters broke into the Libyan parliament on Sunday to demand action on keeping the militias out of Tripoli.

Libya's central government has struggled to keep control of militia groups from Misrata and other towns.

Tripoli remains tense and volatile. Most shops and schools are closed and many roadblocks have been erected by local residents and various armed groups.

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Op maandag 18 november 2013 21:50 schreef theunderdog het volgende:
Een miscommunicatie...

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"One of our sources reports that the Gharghour militia were under the belief that they were surrounded without a way out and called on their family and friends for help," the Shabab Libya website says. "Unfortunately, Misrata wrongly believed that the people active in the protest were Gaddafi loyalists and that this was a targeted attack on their city."

Misrata then responded by sending forces to Tajoura, on the eastern outskirts of Tripoli. The Libyan army denies running away in the face of their attack, but it does seem that militias – including the one from Souq al-Jumaa – were largely responsible for keeping Misrata’s forces at bay.

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Op maandag 18 november 2013 22:20 schreef Aloulou het volgende:

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In die zin is het "goed" dat dit soort excessen plaatsvinden, verhoogt de druk op de politici en milities om te ontwapenen. Na dit weekend met vele doden is er weer heel breed vol afschuw gereageerd in Libie, van Tripoli tot halve separatisten in Benghazi. Men is het spuugzat, vandaar dat demonstranten zelf naar het kantoor van zo'n militie gingen. De regering heeft meer steun dan ooit om de milities ontwapenen.

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Maar Libie is sowieso een hardere samenleving dan veel andere Arabische landen. Men is heel eigenwijs en bereid problemen snel met wapens op te lossen, vaak op nogal een knullige manier. Een voormalige rebel gaat een geschil gewoon oplossen door met een rocket launcher die kerel thuis op te zoeken bijv....en ziet daar ook niets raars in. Of rijdt afentoe in zijn tank, die hij weigert af te staan aan de authoriteiten. etc etc.

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Op dinsdag 19 november 2013 06:19 schreef Gabrunal_2013 het volgende:

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als khadaffi niet was afgezet, waren deze problemen er ook niet. Libi� was een vreedzaam en welvarend land totdat het westen zich ermee ging bemoeien en actief terroristen ging steunen.

twitter:

reportingLibya twitterde op woensdag 20-11-2013 om 20:10:09 #Libya Tripoli quiet again tonight. Barricades still up near Corinthia. Shops all closed but mood v calm. reageer retweet

twitter:

reportingLibya twitterde op woensdag 20-11-2013 om 12:50:48 #Libya Militias continue to leave Tripoli. Reports that some oil blockades east and west are to be lifted. Gas production back at Melittah. reageer retweet

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Op dinsdag 19 november 2013 20:19 schreef Aloulou het volgende:

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Ik heb Libiers altijd al dappere mensen gevonden. Eenvoudig, wat hard en "lomp" vaak genoeg, vaak traditioneel, maar de geschiedenis wijst uit dat als het moet ze echt hun mannetje staan tegen overheersers/onderdrukkers.

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Dit bloederige weekend zal de grote druk verhogen op de regering en milities om op te zouten. Men is ze echt helemaal zat en wil orde en wetten. In die zin kan de regering in deze daad om de milities op te heffen op heel veel steun rekenen.

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Hier een prachtige rap van een jonge anti-Khadafi strijder aan het front. Zijn liefde voor zijn land straalt ervan af, overigens maakte hij de video's tussen de gevechten door vaak. Prachtige foto's ook. En al voor de revolutie bekritiseerde hij Khadafi met gevaar voor zijn leven door liedjes anoniem op het internet te gooien:

ابن ثابت - الجبل الغربى Ibn Thabit - Western Mountains (of Libya)

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Op woensdag 20 november 2013 23:24 schreef Aloulou het volgende:

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Na de revolutie ben ik er eenmaal geweest kort, vier dagen (Tripoli), omdat we familie daar hebben. Werken gigantisch veel uit Tunesie (mijn afkomst) en Egypte omdat Libiers zelf niet echt werken en de economie van eerder genoemde landen in puin ligt. Heb er zelf ook familie zitten (mannen) die er werken en dan een keer in de drie/vier maanden teruggaan voor lang weekend. Het is alleen wel erg onveilig helaas, je moet er echt uitkijken. Zou er nu niet snel meer naartoe gaan, ff wachten tot het wat rustiger gaat worden.

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Eerst moet de regering het leger verder uitbouwen en meerdere milities in op laten gaan die wel loyaal aan de staat zijn. En dan kunnen ze pas ook met geweld desnoods andere onwillige milities ontwapenen. Denk dat het probleem is dat ze de militaire kracht er nog niet voor hebben. Gewone Libiers hebben al aardig grote wapens, laat staan milities.

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Buiten dat heeft Libie een groot voordeel vergeleken bij Tunesie en Egypte (die ook revolutie kenden) en dat is dat het ontzettend rijk is qua grondstoffen. Met maar vijf miljoen mensen moet Libie dus ook economisch en financieel gezien goede stappen kunnen maken. Vandaar dat je ziet dat er ook internationaal wel interesse is om zaken te doen met dat land, ondanks de onveiligheid bijv. Ook in het leger kan men dus investeren.

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Libya's Army Finally Fights Back

In the early hours of Monday morning, the streets of Benghazi witnessed heavy fighting between the units from the national army's Special Forces units and extremists militants from the jihadi group Ansar al-Sharia. The clashes left nine dead and dozens injured, including civilians.

Ansar al-Sharia is the same group suspected of killing United States Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens during an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi in September 2012. The latest clashes erupted when Ansar al-Sharia militants targeted one of the Libyan army's special forces units in the city, according to Wanis Abu Khamada, the special forces commander. Ansar al-Sharia has been putting out a rather different version of events. The jihadis claim they were harassed by soldiers from the Special Forces at a checkpoint near their headquarters in Benghazi. In this version, the army was trying to provoke Ansar into fighting, thus giving the government an excuse to campaign against their presence in the city.

Residents of Benghazi took to the streets in support of the army, denouncing the actions of Ansar al-Sharia and repeating the call for all militias in the country to be disbanded. (The photo above shows participants in the demonstrations holding a poster that says "I love Benghazi.") This is not the first time that Ansar al-Sharia has been the target of public anger and mass protests. Following the killing of Ambassador Stevens, thousands marched in Benghazi against the group and managed to drive them out of their bases and out of the city altogether. Nevertheless, Ansar al-Sharia returned to the city quietly a few weeks later. Its members carried on their activities with a special focus on charitable work in a bid to win public sympathy and support. But this public relations effort was successful only up to a point.

The latest clashes in Benghazi are significant because this is the first time that government forces have confronted armed militias in the city. After hours of fighting, the army units managed to push Ansar al-Sharia out of their strongholds in Benghazi and took control of their bases. It remains unclear where the bulk of the group's forces have gone, or if any of the militants have been arrested. On Wednesday morning, at least four special forces members were killed in a suspected Ansar al-Sharia attack on a checkpoint east of Benghazi. Over the last few days, the situation in Benghazi has been tense and fighting continues both inside the city and in towns to the East.

The Benghazi Local Council, civil society groups, and the council of elders in the city have called for a general strike until the authorities in Tripoli take serious action to shore up security. The national army and police have been sidelined for some time, while preferential treatment has been given to armed militias that have coerced the government to strengthen their position by demanding legal and political recognition (not to mention billions in financial support).

During his visit to Benghazi on Monday, Prime Minister Zeidan and other government officials supported the people's demands to disband the militias and to extend official recognition only to the national army and police forces. Yet there are still some significant political forces within the national parliament that continue working hard to protect the interests of militias that are linked to them either politically or ideologically.

Although government forces have successfully pushed Ansar al-Sharia out of Benghazi for now, many locals fear the militia may choose to retaliate. In particular, some observers worry that the group may be changing its tactics. As the people of Benghazi and the armed forces join hands against the militants, public places could become a prime target for attacks. These fears were reaffirmed when a member of Ansar al-Sharia's Shura Council appeared on Libyan TV and declared the government, army, and lawmakers to be infidels, while promising death to those who oppose the jihadis' strict application of sharia law. Other figures from Ansar al-Sharia tried later to play down his comments.

For the authorities in Libya to succeed in controlling the security situation and the threat that armed militias pose to the country's democratic transition, they need to localize their efforts. They have to empower local security agencies and commanders throughout the country by granting them appropriate authority to respond to local communities' needs. In addition, local police and army forces must have the political and financial support of the central authorities in order to feel confident that they can take full responsibility for local security arrangements. Localization would also help to counter recruitment campaigns by armed groups such as Ansar al-Sharia, which sometimes offer an attractive alternative to the many unemployed young men in the country.

U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Richard Schmiere came up with a fitting summary of the situation in Libya during his recent testimony to a Senate subcommittee: "Libya is not one big mess, it is a bunch of little messes that are not very related." The Libyan government and its allies in the West need to acknowledge this reality and incorporate it in their plans to bring stability. Security, political, and economic efforts must be localized to help resolve those "little messes." "One size fits all" won't work.

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Libyans Remain Optimistic About the Country's Future, Despite Security Concerns

Despite the slow pace of Libya’s political transition and continuing security concerns, a new public opinion survey reveals that Libyans remain optimistic about the country’s future even though they believe the government’s performance is poor and they voice growing dissatisfaction with Libya’s elected legislature, the General National Congress (GNC.) The survey also details citizen’s opinions on the development of Libya’s new constitution, the status of women, and views on Libyan political parties and leaders.

NDI, in partnership with Copenhagen-based JMW Consulting and the Libyan firm Diwan Market Research, surveyed 1,200 randomly selected Libyan nationals from across the country, ages 18 and older, from September 10 to 30.

The nationwide survey is the second in a three-part series launched in May to evaluate changes in Libyan public opinion as the political transition proceeds. Findings from the current survey reveal that most Libyans view elected institutions, leaders, and political parties with increasing negativity. At the same time, a majority of Libyans still believe democracy is the best form of government, and they associate democracy with elections and the protection of rights and freedoms. The findings provide Libyan leaders in political parties, civil society organizations and the government with timely, relevant information on public opinion that can inform policies and make them more responsive to citizens’ interests and needs.

Some key findings from the poll:

- Eighty-five percent of Libyans say that democracy is the best form of government and 89 percent identify elections, protection of rights and freedoms, and the right to criticize those in power as the most important characteristics of democracy.
- Sixty percent of Libyans now describe the GNC’s performance as poor, a 23-point drop in favorability from survey findings in May.
- Seventy-one percent of Libyans say that women should play a greater role in politics and 78 percent support a quota to ensure women’s representation in a future national legislature.
- Only 32 percent of Libyans think that the country is better off now than before the 2011 revolution, however 65 percent believe that in three years, Libya will be better off.
- Ninety-two percent of Libyans identify the right to education, right to medical care, right to work, and protection from torture or inhumane treatment as very important principles to enshrine in the new constitution.
- Libyans overwhelmingly support efforts to disarm militias that do not presently abide by government authority, regardless of whether these militias were formed during or after the 2011 revolution.
- Only 25 percent of Libyans feel Shari’a (Islamic law) should be the sole source of legislation in the new constitution, down from 37 percent who held the same view in May.
- This survey, the second of three NDI isl undertaking as part of its ongoing public opinion program in Libya, was funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Libya’s Cache of Toxic Arms All Destroyed

WASHINGTON — Even as the international effort to destroy Syria’s vast chemical weapons stockpile lags behind schedule, a similar American-backed campaign carried out under a cloak of secrecy ended successfully last week in another strife-torn country, Libya.

The United States and Libya in the past three months have discreetly destroyed what both sides say were the last remnants of Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi’s lethal arsenal of chemical arms. They used a transportable oven technology to destroy hundreds of bombs and artillery rounds filled with deadly mustard agent, which American officials had feared could fall into the hands of terrorists. The effort also helped inspire the use of the technology in the much bigger disposal plan in Syria.

Since November, Libyan contractors trained in Germany and Sweden have worked in bulky hazmat suits at a tightly guarded site in a remote corner of the Libyan desert, 400 miles southeast of Tripoli, racing to destroy the weapons in a region where extremists linked to Al Qaeda are gaining greater influence. The last artillery shell was destroyed on Jan. 26, officials said.

As Libya’s weak central government grapples with turmoil and unrest, and as kidnappings and assassinations of military and police officers accelerate in the country’s east, American and international weapons specialists hailed the destruction of the Libyan stockpile as a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy security environment.

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Libya's football team

Something to celebrate

IF THERE was one image that captured Libya’s joy at winning the African Nations Championship final on Saturday night, it was a grainy shot of Tripoli teenager Ali Zoghdani draped in the Libyan flag and kneeling in jubilation as heavy rain drummed on his grinning, upturned face. The photograph, taken by his brother Omar on a phone as they celebrated with thousands others in the city’s landmark Martyrs Square, soon went viral on Libyan social media. "Football has reunited us in love for our one Libya," said Ali. "We get to smile again."

By beating favourites Ghana 4-3 on penalties in Cape Town's stadium, Libya clinched its first continental football title. Liby'’s best performance up to that point was playing the final of the main African Cup on home ground in 1982, when it lost to Ghana, again on penalties. But for Libyans, reaching and winning the championship final this year was always going to be about so much more than football.

Three years after they rose up against their eccentric ruler, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libyans are disillusioned with the pace of change in a country riven by growing factionalism and regionalism as it struggles in its journey from dictatorship to democracy. What optimism still exists is increasingly ragged, as polarisation across political and ideological lines deepens. The fact the African Nations tournament was initially scheduled to take place in Libya but was cancelled due to continuing insecurity was another painful reminder of the country’s challenges.

"Hope and despair have wedded this Libyan heart to a small yellow ball in Cape Town stadium," tweeted Libyan novelist Hisham Matar just before the kick-off. Crowds of jeans-clad youth and elderly men in traditional garb thronged squares across the country to watch the final on giant screens. Tripoli, the capital, came to a standstill as the game went into extra time and then penalties. The suspense was such that one Islamist member of congress said he could almost not bear to watch. When the Libyan team lifted the cup, every town and city echoed to a symphony of fireworks, celebratory gunfire and patriotic chants. The government announced a national holiday as the country celebrated more than it had at any point since the fall of Gaddafi.

The players, most of them in their twenties, are drawn from right across Libya, hailing from Tripoli, Benghazi, Misrata, Zawiya and other towns. No wonder then that several Libyans quipped that the country’s bickering and increasingly unpopular politicians could learn much from them in terms of working together. The footballers are expected to make a victory tour of Libya’s major cities on their return, beginning in Benghazi and taking in Sabha, the southern town recently wracked by clashes. More than simply winning a football match, Libya’s youthful team has brought a country and its people together—at least for one night.

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Libya: Critical TV Bans Setback for Speech

Reverse Punitive Scholarship, Salary Cuts for ‘Anti-February 17 Revolution’ Students and Employees

(Tripoli, January 27, 2014) �– A new decree passed by Libya’s parliament banning satellite television stations critical of the government and the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi violates free speech and Libya’s Provisional Constitutional Declaration. The decree was passed January 22, 2014. The government also slashed scholarship funding for students abroad, along with salaries and bonuses to employees who take part in activities “inimical” to the revolution.

“You’d think that Libyans learned long ago that suppressing speech, no matter how harsh, does nothing to foster security or peace,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. “The best way to confront opinions that the government doesn’t like is to challenge them with better ideas that will convince Libyans.”

Decree 5/2014, “Concerning the Cessation and Ban on the Broadcasting of Certain Satellite Channels,” passed by Libya’s parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), on January 22, instructs the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Communications, and [Mass] Media to “take necessary steps required” to halt the transmission of all satellite television stations that are “hostile to the February 17 revolution and whose purpose is the destabilization of the country or creating divisions among Libyans.” It further instructs the government to “take all measures” against states or businesses in territories from where the channels are broadcast if they do not block the transmission of these stations.

The decree violates freedom of expression because it censors a wide range of speech, including peaceful political dissent, and its broad and vague wording is open to arbitrary implementation, Human Rights Watch said. While the government could lawfully ban speech that is found to directly incite violence, it should not ban all of a satellite channel’s broadcasts even if some of the speech that it disseminates is found to incite violence. Human Rights Watch urged the government to revoke the resolution.

The ban appears intended to block satellite stations that have taken a pro-Gaddafi position in their editorial content; in particular, it appears aimed at a pro-Gaddafi station, al-Khadra Channel, and al-Jamahiriyah.

Libya’s government also passed Resolution 13/2014 on January 24, discontinuing scholarships to students studying abroad and salaries and bonuses to Libyan employees, for “taking part in activities inimical to the February 17 revolution,” which is widely understood to encompass statements and protests against the current government. It calls on Libyan embassies abroad and others to draw up lists of names and refer them to the Prosecutor General for prosecution.

“These efforts to sanction Libyans who don’t support the revolution or the current government should be an embarrassment for all those who pledged a new era of freedom for Libyans,” Whitson said. “Punishing students and employees who don’t toe the government’s political line is a tactic that should have ended with the fall of Gaddafi.”

The government’s effort to ban pro-Gaddafi media comes in the context of a difficult political and security environment. Seemingly pro-Gaddafi armed groups in southern and western Libya have engaged in pitched battles against pro-government forces, resulting in at least 154 deaths and 463 injured people according to an Agence France Presse report. In the past year, armed groups and unknown assailants assassinated at least 70 Libyans associated with the Gaddafi government, mainly former members of the Gaddafi security forces, but also political opponents of Gaddafi, and judges, with virtually no arrests by the government.

It is unclear how the Libyan government will enforce this ban against satellite stations operating outside of the country.

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Libya: Muammar Gaddafi's secrets finally revealed

Since Muammar Gaddafi's ignominious death at the hands of a rebel mob in October 2011 much has been written and said about him. But now a new film, with unprecedented access to those close to Gaddafi, provides a comprehensive study of Libya's brutal and contradictory long-time leader.

Ali Aujali, Gaddafi's former ambassador to the United States, is an exceptionally charming man.

He is also something of a magician. He began his career in the Libyan diplomatic service a couple of years after Gaddafi seized power in 1969.

In a series of postings from London to Latin America, he explained away the excesses of the Gaddafi regime. So I was rather surprised to sit with Mr Aujali surrounded by the staggeringly ornate Libyan embassy in Washington and hear him tear the colonel to pieces.

Mr Aujali defected to the rebels in February 2011 and became their ambassador to the United States.

According to him, there was literally nothing good about the man whose regime he had served most of his adult life.

Secret after secret spilled out. We checked as many of his claims as we could.

There were anecdotes we could not follow up, such as his claim that a young man had been tied to two cars and ripped in half after complaining that Gaddafi had had sex with his wife.

But there were other claims we could check.

One was that on 22 December 1992, almost four years to the day after Pan Am 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, a Libyan Arab Airlines 727 was shot down on Gaddafi's orders.

A total of 157 people - Libyans and foreigners - had died.

Its flight number, curiously, was 1103.

The wreckage of Flight 1103 on the outskirts of Tripoli

After Gaddafi fell, the British wife of one of the victims tried to get the new Libyan government to open an enquiry.

Reporters pieced together statements made by pilots of military jets in the area, air traffic controllers and airline employees.

But what was important about Mr Aujali's statement to us was that it was the first time a true insider had spoken out.

Was he sure? "100%," he said.

A bomb with a timer had been placed on board the plane. When it failed to detonate, Gaddafi ordered the plane to be knocked out of the sky, near Tripoli airport.

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Celebrations, and Unease, in Libya on Anniversary of Uprising

Rockets exploded in showers of sparkles over Martyrs’ Square here on Monday, and thousands of Libyans raced their cars up and down the coastal highway, flying flags and honking their horns in celebration of the third anniversary of the start of the uprising that overthrew the longtime ruler Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

Libyans complain that their leaders have squandered the revolution, engaging in power struggles and enriching themselves while doing little to improve the lives of citizens. Carjackings and kidnappings are so frequent that some people even lament the bygone security of Colonel Qaddafi’s dictatorship and call for a new strong hand to control the many militias and criminals at large.

Yet the enthusiasm for the revolution that rid the country of the “tyrant,” as many refer to him, is still emphatic and widespread. The crowds in Tripoli, the capital, appeared undaunted even when a small car bomb exploded just yards from Martyrs’ Square. The front seats of the car were damaged, but no one was wounded.

“It means everything to me and to the Libyans,” said Abdul Hedi al-Kikli, 58, who took his family three years ago and went to join rebels in the mountains.

“We may have some negativity now, but it will not last,” Mr. Kikli said. “I don’t care about the situation now. What we have done is lay the foundations for change. It is for the next generation, even if our generation might not know democracy.”