Mediaboss Marketing

Rare.us

Lawmaker and human rights activist from Iraq speaks out against President Trump's travel ban Rare.us A Yazidi lawmaker and human rights activist from Iraq visited the United States this week to receive a prestigious human rights award. According to the Religious News Service, Vian Dakhil, the only Yazidi member of Iraq Parliament, received the Lantos ... and more »

See the rest here:
Lawmaker and human rights activist from Iraq speaks out against President Trump's travel ban - Rare.us

Mariko Miller, a nurse working with MSF in Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.

Mariko Miller is a Canadian emergency nurse working with Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) in Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, where MSF teams are providing healthcare to people forced from their homes by armed conflict, and supportingemergency care in two hospitals.

Many of the displaced people come from Hawija, a district southwest of Kirkuk that has been under the control of armed groups for more than two years. Since the intensification of military operations to retake the district in August last year, it is estimated by the UNHCR that more than 80,000 Iraqis have fled Hawija. Many families tell us about lack of food and fuel in the area, and about perilous journeys to reach safety. However, despite the scale of people's needs, humanitarian assistance remains largely insufficient.

Mariko shares her account of assisting people arriving in Kirkuk:

"There are eyes darting around me in a crowd with a vigilance I haven't seen before, and I'm watching a little boy in his mother's arms. His hands are desperately grasping at the air around him with an acute hunger that is painful to watch. There is a packet of biscuits in a box in front of him and I watch his eyes focus on them. He grabs the biscuit, then struggles with the plastic wrapper, and this image of him stays in my mind. He is too young to be so hungry, too young to understand the decisions his family had to make to survive, or how this journey will define his future. Around him people are scattered in groups on the ground, huddled around boxes of food, eating desperately after six days of hunger and two years of suffering in areas under the control of armed groups.

The boy is among 647 people who have arrived safely from Hawija, a place suffocated by suffering. All these new arrivals chose to leave Hawija and undertake a journey that some people don't survive. The other night many families were executed after being caught trying to escape. Those who make it out of the town have to travel 7 kilometres at night through a desert scattered with landmines and improvised explosive devices, where snipers sometimes hit their mark. They have taken a calculated risk, knowing that they might die. But the people in front of me have made it, they are alive.

Many women who come to see me cry as they talk about the people they left behind in an area that is being hit by aerial strikes and where an offensive is expected. One young woman lost her entire family yesterday when they stepped on a landmine in the dark, and her grief is palpable, horrifying. There are many other people who sit silently, self-protective, eyes averted, eyes that have seen more than eyes ever should, in a state of shock that feels impenetrable, yet necessary, because they are not yet free. They must still survive.

There is an older man who sits alone, short of breath and with a loud audible wheeze. I am giving him some Ventolin so he can breathe, but instead of breathing better, he starts to cry, and tears fall.His son is in Hawija. This is all he needs to say.

Sometimes the hardest thing is to hear these stories and to maintain a professional composure. When I feel the tears build behind my eyes I don't know what to say other than, "Inshallah, [God willing] your son will arrive safely". The man looks at me with glassy eyes, repeats, "Inshallah" and looks up at the sky.

Two small children lost their mother in a landmine explosion yesterday. The air I breathe is blanketed in suffering, and it is shedding layer after complicated layer all over the land.

There is an eight-year-old boy whose little sister is sick. He says he has not slept in days because at night the women sleep, and the young boys keep guard. He is serious and strong, his emotions flat. I see children hiding food in their pockets, and the sight of this hurts because they are still in survival mode.

This week, several children have arrived with blast injuries and our doctor has removed shrapnel and metal from little limbs. The team has safely referred these children to the emergency hospital in Kirkuk, which MSF is supporting. We see only the ones who make it, the ones who have survived the perilous journey and reached the entry points beyond the frontline, and we know there are many who have been left behind.

At a different entry point, a young man collapses as he climbs from a truck. He is unresponsive and pale, but alive. He is carried to our clinic and, while I grind my knuckles into his sternum to get him to respond, I see tears spill out from the corners of his eyes. He lies on my floor, weeping, until finally he is able to sit up. He tells me how his parents were killed recently and his brother is in Hawija. His wife is pregnant with their first child and he feels overwhelmed by uncertainty. We sit on the clinic floor together and his pregnant wife joins us and they cry together. He thinks that I have saved his life and, with clasped hands, he tells me he will pray for me every night. His courage overwhelms me.

We are building our project from the ground up, and we are preparing for the days to come. We have started training staff in the main emergency hospitals and we are gaining access at entry points to provide a response for war-wounded and emergency arrivals. Our medical teams are growing quickly to build capacity, and the solidarity of the team makes it easy. Humanitarianism and medicine intersect here and remind us of MSF's identity. The need for our presence here is obvious. The gratitude from our patients is humbling and, as heavy as the air is in pockets here, we are all exactly where we need to be."

More:
Iraq: Assisting people displaced from Hawija - Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) International

One Libyan figure may prove to be central to any negotiations: Gen. Khalifa Haftar, whose forces have been fighting Islamists and control a chunk of the country's east. He's already been talking to Russia.

It continues to compete with the Islamist-dominated General National Congress in Tripoli, also known as the Government of National Salvation, and with the previous internationally recognized government, the Council of Deputies, which has set up camp in the east of Libya and backs Haftar.

Haftar, who heads the so-called Libyan National Army, has been working to drive out Islamist forces, with some success, said St John. His forces now control much of the east, including Benghazi and most of the major oil producing and exporting areas -- crucial to Libya's economy, said St John.

In the last six to nine months, Russia has been trying to take advantage of the chaos and instability in Libya to establish itself as a regional player, said St John. After gaining a "major foothold" in Syria, where it has backed the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, influence in Libya could allow it to expand its reach into North Africa, he said.

Anna Walker, associate director for Europe at the business risk consultancy Control Risks, said Russia was seeking to exert its influence in the region to help reinforce its position as a power on the world stage.

Nikolay Kozhanov, an academy associate with UK-based think tank Chatham House, said Moscow is trying to orientate its foreign policy toward non-Western nations.

Russia is also "disappointed" by the results of Western involvement in the Middle East, he said, which it largely blames for the fall of pro-Moscow regimes in Iraq and Libya, and associated political and economic losses.

The Arab Spring and subsequent instability in the region has been a blow to Russia's economy, Kozhanov said. Russia had huge investments in Libya before the Arab Spring -- from military infrastructure to railroad construction to energy.

The Soviet Union was also a major supplier of weapons to Libya's former strongman leader Moammar Gadhafi following his rise to power in 1969, said St John. Russia would like to tap back into that market, he said.

In addition, Libya has oil and gas reserves that could offer future development opportunities, said Walker.

Haftar -- who defected from Gadhafi's military to live in exile in the United States before returning to Libya in 2011 -- will have to be brought on board if a stable Libyan government with popular support is to be formed, said St John.

The general opposes the rule of the UN-backed Tripoli government and has indicated he might try to extend his power base to the Libyan capital, said St John.

Haftar traveled to Moscow last year and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He also met with a high-level Russian delegation on board a Russian warship off eastern Libya last month.

Kozhanov said he doubted Russia had a "clear master plan" in Libya -- but links with Haftar could be useful in a future Libyan government.

Libya is a departure point for hundreds of thousands of migrants who have left poverty and repression in African and Middle Eastern nations.

Europe's migrant crisis is not a real factor in Russia's plans, said Kozhanov. But, he said, "Moscow often offers to cooperate with the West on the anti-terrorist agenda, using it as the way to make the West less interested in confronting Moscow on other topics." That would include Ukraine, where Russian aggression has led to European sanctions.

US President Donald Trump has also spoken of working with Russia to fight Islamist terrorism.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini last week spoke by phone about Ukraine, Syria and Libya with Lavrov. The pair have agreed to meet in the coming weeks, perhaps on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

"Both on Libya and Syria, we decided to find ways to join efforts and cooperate," said Mogherini of her call with Lavrov, adding that working with the Russians to help Libyans unite their country "can only be a positive thing."

Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano also spoke with Lavrov about Libya, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing Italian newspaper La Stampa.

Support within Europe for sanctions against Russia over Ukraine has been weakening, said Walker. Treating Russia as a credible negotiating partner in Libya will make maintaining unity on sanctions harder, she said.

However, she said, "Europe has so many issues it is grappling with at the moment that refusing Russia's support or actively trying to counter it is probably not in its interests."

She stressed that Russia was talking to various political forces in Libya, not just Haftar, and planned to receive Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the GNA, in Moscow this month.

"We would like Libya to get out of the protracted crisis as soon as possible and once again become a prosperous state relying on strong government institutions, capable army and law enforcement forces restoring its status as a major regional player," she said.

CNN's Antonia Mortensen and Milena Veselinovic contributed to this report.

See the original post:
Libya: Why the EU is looking to Russia - CNN

Johannesburg Airstrikes carried out by the Libyan National Army (LNA) on the Jufra airbase in the centre of the country have killed two people and wounded another 13.

The Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB) were the targets of the strikes although there were other militias in the area, including those from Misrata situated on the Mediterranean coast, the Libya Herald reported on Friday. Before the attack, local residents reported that they heard the sound of planes overhead.

The attacking aircraft took off from the Al Khadim base, in Al Marj in north-eastern Libya, used in recent weeks by fighter jets from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The UAE maintains a military base that supports the operations of Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya.

Haftar's Emirati allies want to maintain a presence on Libyan territory in order to act in support of his military operations, and to protect his main base in AL Marj.

Haftar, a former loyalist of the late Muammar Gadaffi, has gained popularity in the eastern city of Benghazi for fighting Islamic militants.

Violence also continues to plague in the Abu Saleem and Salahadeen neighbourhoods of the capital Tripoli.

Clashes erupted several days ago between the Abu Saleem Central Security Force belonging to Abdul Ghani Al Kikli and gunmen loyal to the Salah Al Burki militia, most of them from Misrata.

During the fighting tanks and heavy mortar were used forcing residents to stay indoors.

There were also reports of shooting in Ain Zara and Tajoura. Meanwhile, the UN Special envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, is to be replaced by former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

The decision to replace Kobler was made by the new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

So far there has been no official confirmation, although a leaked letter from Guterres to the UN Security Council on Wednesday announcing the appointment had been circulating on social media. In it Guterres thanks Kobler for his service.

Responding to the move the former Libyan representative to the UN Ibrahim Dabbashi criticised the UN for failing to consult Libyan authorities before making the decision. During his last days as the UN's Libyan envoy Kobler has slammed a European Union (EU) proposal on how to deal with the thousands of desperate African refugees who attempt the perilous sea journey to Europe, using Libya as the point of departure.

Earlier in the week criticised a European Union (EU) plan to send migrants back to Libya and suggested such a decision would be a violation of international standards and the Geneva Convention.

You cant send them (migrants) back to camps where they will go hungry, be tortured and raped, he said. In his final report to the Council Kobler said: The citizens of Libya deserve security and an end to the rampant crime and lawlessness.

Kobler was a personal appointment by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The new special envoy, US-educated Salam Fayyad, was Palestinian finance minister from 2002 to 2005 and Palestinian prime minister from 2007 to 2013. His background is in finance, having previously worked for both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and is regarded as having been a successful finance minister.

Seen as both a conciliator and a pragmatist, Salam Fayyad will, however, have his work cut out for him in trying to implement a Libyan Political Agreement that is widely seen as broken and unimplementable, the Herald reported.

More here:
Libya airstrikes kill two - Independent Online

By Aidan Lewis | MISRATA, Libya

MISRATA, Libya Islamic State militants have shifted to desert valleys and inland hills southeast of Tripoli as they seek to exploit Libya's political divisions after defeat in their former stronghold of Sirte, security officials say.

The militants, believed to number several hundred and described as "remnants" of Islamic State's Libya operation, are trying to foment chaos by cutting power and water supplies and to identify receptive local communities, the officials said.

They are being monitored through aerial surveillance and on-the-ground intelligence, but Libyan officials said they cannot easily be targeted without advanced air power of the kind used by the United States on Jan. 19, when B-2 bombers killed more than 80 militants in a strike southwest of Sirte.

For more than a year, Islamic State exercised total control over Sirte, building its primary North African base in the coastal city. But it struggled to keep a footing elsewhere in Libya and by December was forced out of Sirte after a six-month campaign led by brigades from the western city of Misrata and backed by U.S. air strikes.

The jihadist group lost many of its fighters in the battle and now has no territory in Libya, but fugitive militants and sleeper cells are seen to pose a threat in a country that has been deeply fractured and largely lawless since the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.

The threat is focused south of the coastal strip between Misrata and Tripoli, arcing to the southeast around the town of Bani Walid and into the desert south of Sirte, said Ismail Shukri, head of military intelligence in Misrata.

One group of 60-80 militants is operating around Girza, 170 km (105 miles) west of Sirte, another group of about 100 is based around Zalla and Mabrouk oil field, about 300 km southeast of Sirte, and there are reports of a third group present in Al-Uwaynat, close the Algerian border, he said.

Some fighters were based outside Sirte before last year's campaign, some fled during the battle and some have arrived from eastern Libya where they have been largely defeated by rival armed factions.

"They work and move around in small groups. They only use two or three vehicles at a time and they move at night to avoid detection," said Mohamed Gnaidy, an intelligence official with forces that conducted the campaign in Sirte.

Those forces published pictures in the wake of last month's U.S. strike showing hideouts dug into the sand, temporary shelters camouflaged with plastic sheeting and branches, stocks of weapons and satellite phones.

"This area is very difficult so it's hard for our forces to deal with them," said Shukri, pointing to satellite images of steep rocky banks and tracks in the sand southwest of Sirte. "The only solution to eliminate them in this area is through air strikes."

ATTACKS ON INFRASTRUCTURE

Mohamed Gnounou, a Misrata-based air force spokesman, said the militants had been monitored for 45 days ahead of the U.S. strike. "It confirmed a large number of individuals who were preparing something new in this place, as well as developing a strategy to head to new areas." The areas included rural districts near the coastal cities of Al Khoms and Zliten, between Misrata and Tripoli, and the region around the southern city of Sabha, he said.

Islamic State fighters had received logistical help from civilians and had paid some of them to help cut off power and water supplies, including by sabotaging a water link to Tripoli in the Great Man-made River system built by Gaddafi, and attacking electricity infrastructure near the southern city of Sabha, where there have been long blackouts in recent weeks, said Gnounou.

"Daesh (Islamic State) destroyed more than 150km of electricity pylons in the south between Jufra and Sabha. These acts fuel crisis and frustration in Libya, as well as giving an opportunity for gold diggers who smuggle through the open borders and make easy money from Daesh," he said.

Sirte suffered extensive damage during the battle against Islamic State. Military officials from Misrata say they have the city secured and some residents have begun to return to central neighborhoods.

But they also complain about a lack of support from the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and are nervous about military advances by forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar to the east and south of Sirte.

Haftar, who has rejected the GNA, was on the opposite side to Misrata's brigades in a conflict that flared up across Libya in 2014, just as Islamic State was gaining strength.

Both sides accuse the other of using Islamic State to their advantage, while waging separate campaigns against jihadists.

"The support we are getting is not equivalent to the risk we face or the sacrifice we have made," said Shukri. "We need the political authorities, the (GNA) to continue the next step."

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

BEIJING/WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump changed tack and agreed to honor the "one China" policy during a phone call with China's leader Xi Jinping, a major diplomatic boost for Beijing which brooks no criticism of its claim to self-ruled Taiwan.

MOSCOW Slovenia would be a good place for a first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia's Vladimir Putin said on Friday, but he said the choice of venue would not be Moscow's alone.

MEXICO CITY, Mexico's home-grown populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has tapped into wide discontent with the ruling party and resentment toward Donald Trump to make a bid for the center ground, raising his chances of winning the presidency next year.

See more here:
Islamic State shifts to Libya's desert valleys after Sirte defeat - Reuters