Libya News and Interests

[anatta]

What is the downside to splitting Libya into two countries?

it would be a disasters for Libya.
Benghazi is the commercial heartland, and biggest seaport.Tripoli would not be able to survive.
There would have to be all of Libya west of Benghazi to support Tripoli ( and the west).

I think either new country would be very very weak -and it would lead to endless civil war between them for territory
( like who gets Sirte)

[dukkha]

A house collapsed in the area of Balkhair in central Tripoli without causing any human casualties, according to eyewitnesses.

The building collapse caused damage to some cars parked nearby, as well as other forms of material loss, according to the same sources.

Such incidents have occurred in the same area significantly, in recent years, due to the decrepit state of homes in Balkhair area, which have been built for some time now.

For his part, the Mayor of Central Tripoli, Abdul Raouf Beit Al-Mal, said that the municipality does not have the means to maintain these old buildings, noting that most of these houses are not accommodated.

[kudzu]

it would be a disasters for Libya.
Benghazi is the commercial heartland, and biggest seaport.Tripoli would not be able to survive.
There would have to be all of Libya west of Benghazi to support Tripoli ( and the west).

I think either new country would be very very weak -and it would lead to endless civil war between them for territory
( like who gets Sirte)

Makes sense..

Civil war never works out ….

[cancel2 2022]

it would be a disasters for Libya.
Benghazi is the commercial heartland, and biggest seaport.Tripoli would not be able to survive.
There would have to be all of Libya west of Benghazi to support Tripoli ( and the west).

I think either new country would be very very weak -and it would lead to endless civil war between them for territory
( like who gets Sirte)

You should read this, you might think otherwise.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order...ay-to-save-it/

[kudzu]

You should read this, you might think otherwise.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order...ay-to-save-it/

Good article.. Thanks.

[dukkha]

You should read this, you might think otherwise.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order...ay-to-save-it/

it's what I said:

Sirte is still the key line of contact between Libya’s two main regions.

so who gets Sirte?
~~

I also mentioned that no foreign troops can impose order -like the idea for the Blue Helmets supposedly coming in
post Qadafi -western troops of any kind are an anathema. They would just be a target for all

Many tend to perceive the foreign presence—even if decisive for victory, as in this case—as a threat rather than as a true alliance.

I'm aware of the regionalism as well . I think any attempt though to carve it up just leads to more strife, moer civil war.

Libya needs a strong man like Qadafi -maybe Hiftar can do it - but partitioning won't work,it just leaves 2 weak states.

we really screwed up killing Qadafi -there are no quick fixes

[dukkha]

Turkish firms propose finishing Libya's suspended projects in priority order


Mitiga Towers - Mitiga International Airport
https://www.libyaobserver.ly/economy...priority-order

The Chairman of Turkey's Association of Construction Material Producers, Mithat Yenigün, said the Turkish firms wish to resume work in Libya despite the current crisis.

Yenigün told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that Turkey had formed a joint committee with Libya for considering the resumption of projects and for recollecting their financial dues.

He added that his association has proposed to the Libya-Turkey committee that Libya outlines the most vital projects that need to be prioritized for resumption.

Yenigün also said that Libya can terminate projects' contracts as per the laws but paying out the financial dues for the Turkish companies.

Libya should provide security for the companies to return and work on resumption." He remarked.

The suspended projects are worth about 19 billion dollars and the companies require about a billion of financial dues for their previous work, let alone insurances of about 1.7 billion dollars, Yenigün explained.

[dukkha]

Whose side is Russia on in Libya?

On March 17, Khaled al-Mishri, president of Libya's High Council of State (HCS), arrived in Moscow at the invitation of the Federal Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, to discuss bilateral relations and ways to tackle Libya's ongoing political crisis. Mishri was received by Valentina Matvienko, speaker of the Russian council, and also held talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa. The Foreign Ministry issued a press release in which it cited Russia's support for a conference of all the Libyan parties under the auspice of Ghassan Salamé, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Libya.

Lev Dengov, head of the Russian Contact Group on Libya at the Foreign Ministry and the State Duma, denied an assertion in the Libya Observer that Russia is supportive only of Gen. Khalifa Hifter, leader of the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA), head of the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk and a longtime adversary of Mishri.

“Russia favors any side that is capable of positively impacting Libyan developments,” Dengov said. “The environment in the country is replete with numerous opposing camps. … As for us, we are working to help Libya agree on a single policy and restore peace without intervention in its internal affairs.”

The visit by Mishri, as head of the Tripoli-based body charged with advising the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), should be considered evidence of Russia maintaining a balanced policy on Libya.
It was reported in Al-Monitor in October that Moscow was shifting away from a strategy of maintaining equal distance between itself and Tripoli and Tobruk and instead developing closer ties to Hifter, a Tobruk ally.
This was symbolized by Hifter's visit to the Russian capital last November, during which he had discussions with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in the run-up to the Palermo conference on Libya that same month. Since that time, there had been no significant meetings between Russian officials and Hifter's Tripoli-based opponents.
Thus, Mishri trip to Moscow should serve to demonstrate that Moscow remains flexible in its approach to resolving the Libyan conflict.

One should bear in mind that Mishri and Hifter are longstanding opponents. The Hifter-led HoR does not recognize the HCS's authority over it despite the council's mandate to that effect under the Libyan Political Agreement. Also, throughout most of Mishri's political career, he has been a member of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood Group and its affiliated Justice and Construction Party, while Hifter has opposed the Muslim Brotherhood and voiced his commitment to eradicating it in Libya. Mishri resigned from the Brotherhood in January, but has stated that he still respects the organization and defends its role in Libyan society. Of note, Russia has designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization within its borders.

Mishri’s Moscow visit comes amid successful operations by Hifter's LNA in the southwestern Fezzan region that allowed Tobruk to assume control over the oil fields at el-Fil and el-Sharara, the largest in western Libya. The LNA has also gained sway over the strategic junctions of the trans-Saharan trade routes of al-Ghat, Murzuq and Sabha. The operation has significantly bolstered Hifter’s position on the ground and has also boosted his political standing, an outcome he had sought from the Abu Dhabi talks in late February when he met Fayez al-Sarraj, prime minister of the GNA and chair of the Presidential Council.

Meanwhile, the Military Council of Misrata, one of the largest military factions in western Libya, has rejected agreements reached in talks thus far between Sarraj and Hifter, and supporters of Libya's grand mufti, Sadiq al-Ghariani, have taken to the streets to protest against Sarraj. At the same timHifter has stepped up preparations for an offensive against Tripoli.

Amid these developments, Mishri traveled to Doha in early March to secure Qatari backing for Tripoli. Sarraj had preceded him with a visit of his own. While in Moscow, Mishri had sought certain assurances about red lines for a Hifter offensive on Tripoli, which might follow the general’s successful campaign in Fezzan. Russian diplomatic sources indicate that Cairo and Abu Dhabi may have given Hifter a green light for a Tripoli operation. It had been Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to which Mishri was referring in Moscow when he at one point cited “external interference” as the main impediment to resolving the Libyan conflict.

A campaign against Tripoli could trigger unpredictable consequences despite Hifter’s recent successes, including the country relapsing into a new protracted civil war, a “war of all against all,” as in 2014, with unclear prospects. The United States has already set a red line for Hifter, deeming the military campaign against Tripoli unacceptable, according to Western diplomats.

Although Russia expects a payoff from backing Hifter, Moscow's support has been palpably limited. Moscow is wary that the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France will reap the most gains from Hifter acquiring a significantly strong position in Libya since they have bet on him alone and have invested much more in his success than Russia has. In turn, Russia would certainly benefit from maintaining a balanced position in Libya. In this way, Moscow could exploit the ties it has managed to preserve with all the parties to the conflict more effectively. This refers to the smaller actors as well as to Tripoli and Tobruk.

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ori...#ixzz5j56cGTW0

[dukkha]

Tobruk Medical Centre receives medical support from WHO

[dukkha]

Libya protesters demand release of Kadhafi-era spy chief

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/af...spy-chief.html
Relatives and supporters of Libya's Kadhafi-era intelligence chief, jailed for his alleged role in a bloody crackdown during the country's 2011 uprising, protested in Tripoli on Saturday to demand his release.

Abdullah al-Senussi, a brother-in-law of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, was sentenced to death in 2015 over the part he allegedly played in the regime's response to a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled and killed Kadhafi.

Eight others close to Kadhafi, including the Libyan leader's son, Seif al-Islam, also received death sentences following a trial condemned by the United Nations as "seriously" flawed.

The unusual protest comes just over a month after the release on health grounds of Abuzeid Dorda, Kadhafi's head of foreign intelligence who was sentenced at the same time as Senussi.

Senussi was extradited in September 2012 by Mauritania, where he had fled after Kadhafi's fall.

Like the dictator's son, he had also been the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for suspected war crimes during the 2011 uprising.

But in an unusual move, in 2013 the court gave Libyan authorities the green light to put him on trial.

He has since been detained in the capital, along with some 40 other senior Kadhafi-era officials including the dictator's last prime minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi.

Seif al-Islam, Kadhafi's son, was captured and imprisoned by an armed group in the northwestern city of Zintan and sentenced by a Tripoli court in absentia.

The group announced his release in 2017 but it was never confirmed and his fate remains unknown.

[dukkha]

A Minister, a General, & the Militias: Libya’s Shifting Balance of Power

Members of the Tripoli Protection Force, an alliance of militias, inspecting a compound used by the rival Seventh Brigade group in an area south of the Libyan capital, January 18, 2019
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/0...ance-of-power/
*long article -very good bakground*

[dukkha]

US pledges half a million dollars in non-lethal assistance to Libya
https://www.libyaobserver.ly/news/us...sistance-libya
The US embassy said this new assistance complements the United States’ $30 million USD in ongoing security assistance in support of "Government of National Accord" priorities, including projects to provide training to the Tripoli Security Directorate, help implement international standards at key airports, improve Libya’s border security management capability, clear unexploded ordinance in Sirte, bolster security sector reform, and build coordination between relevant actors ahead of elections.

[dukkha]

Tunisia- #ISIS release first ever photo set from #Tunisia, showing the daily life in the Western mountains, showing a handful of fighters, here on patrol (in a surprisingly open area). Note Steyr AUG acquired from security forces (some even reached as far as Sinai)

[dukkha]

Oded Berkowitz
‏
#Tripoli: a pair of V-22 Osprey carrying @USAfricaCommand CO Gen Waldhauser & US ambassador to Libya @AmbPeterBodde landing at Abu Sitta Naval Base to meet with #GNA PM al-Sarraj

[dukkha]

The conundrum Libya poses for policymakers is that the root of its wave of migration does not come from a single source. Like a flood of tributaries streaming to the mouth of a river, migrants are fleeing en masse from at least a dozen different countries.

Shutting off the flow would mean addressing the needs of migrants spanning half of an entire continent.