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Libya goes through challenging months as the country heads towards elections on 24 December. On 2 July 2021, the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), supported by the UN, was not able to reach a consensus on the constitutional basis of the upcoming elections. Earlier in June, during the Second Berlin Conference, there was no significant progress in terms of withdrawal of foreign troops or mercenaries from the country.

In this highly divided context, community-based reconciliation processes are critical to address conflicts stemming from local grievances. However, too often, local populations and communities are not sufficiently involved in the higher-level peace processes. To bridge this gap, Interpeace has gathered a broad range of change agents involved in establishing a common vision of priorities for peace to bring solutions at the local level through community dialogue.

The deep political divisions that characterize Libya both stem from and feed into local grievances creating a vicious cycle and making the work at the community level all that more important. Since 2011, Interpeaces engagement in Libya has focused on the development of local infrastructure for peace and social cohesion. Amid this prolonged state of conflict, Libyans are frustrated with the continued political stagnation, failed dialogue processes, and unkept promises. In the context of long-standing multifaceted crisis in Libya, there are high hopes for a democratic transition in the coming months, even with the last setbacks, but that is complicated by numerous social and political challenges in addition to the ongoing conflict and the spread of Covid-19.

The years of conflict have also weakened the already fragile social cohesion and widened the gaps in the country. Re-establishing social cohesion and inclusion must be a priority while building sustainable peace in such a complex conflict situation as the one in Libya. Through its project Strengthening Local Cohesion in Libya: A Pathway to Lasting Peace, Interpeace seeks to reinforce local resilience capacities for sustainable peace and contribute to the development of local environment for stability and future growth in Libya. Almost 30 communities benefit from the programme.

Over the last ten years in Libya, Interpeace has developed and accompanied a network of over 200 Change Agents or Dialogue Facilitators, across the country working directly with the population. This group is made up of influential individuals of all ages, genders and social status. Its members play an important role in building resilient peace in Libya from the bottom-up, by ensuring that engaged communities are equipped to be more resilient to conflict, especially at the community level. This initiative is aimed at catalyzing collaboration between Libyan communities, and with national authorities, to establish a common vision of priorities for peace through strengthening dialogue platforms and building the capacity of change agents in local communities. This effort is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Swiss Federal Department for Foreign Affairs.

On the practical level, I was greatly empowered in my social participation. There were some activities I stayed away from, thinking they belong to the specialists, and I never participated. I felt that it [the engagement in the initiative] gave me the courage to participate. I was staying away from those having opposing ideas and positions, but I began to intervene in positive ways. If a tough situation occurs, I try and find constructive solutions to it, says a female change agent from Tobruk.

In the programmes framework, Interpeace sets up various initiatives to bring together change agents based in different parts of Libya and support their efforts in building peaceful social environment. The most recent gathering took place in Tunis from 20 to 28 June 2021. It was organized to help these community leaders and influencers in identifying and addressing priority issues inside communities.

This experience can be characterized in two ways: we established relationships in all Libyan cities when maintaining direct communication. I mean, now I have friends in every Libyan city, and I can say that 60% of the advantage I gained is the fact that I personally know young people from all the cities and from different fields. [] Personally, I have met influential people in different communities, wise people and influencers in civil society. [] We know mistrust that can exist among individuals towards international organisations working in Libya, but Interpeace has a different approach this is a special experience, explains a male change agent from Tobruk.

Forty change agents divided into two groups participated in four-days sessions for each. The workshop aimed at providing the dialogue facilitators who are based in the eastern part of Libya with the required skills and tools to design and conduct community dialogue tailored to their local context.

I am shy even when I have something to say, I prefer to stay in the background, keep quiet. I am not social by nature, I prefer staying at home. My participation in the workshops [] made me want to express my point of view whether or not it is accepted by the other party. Now, on the social level I have the power to participate in ongoing projects in Libya, such as enhancing the role of women in electoral processes, as voters or as candidates, as well as at the level of national reconciliation, says a female change agent from Al-Baida.

This work is critical with the current changes taking place in the sensitive political context of Libya and ahead of elections in which communities will play a key role.

The role of the change agents will be critical in the eventual implementation of a political agreement in bringing public support, particularly among civil society, who are likely to be key champions of any peace outcomes negotiated. The sustainability of a political solution will be dependent on a shared societal agreement about what peace means and what it entails, but also community engagement going beyond simple outreach as an actual process of inclusion in the implementation to ensure sustainable peace, concluded Rene Larivire, Senior Director for Programme Management at Interpeace.

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Libya: the value added of local peace and reconciliation processes - Libya - ReliefWeb

While the reconciliation process has added a sense of optimism, several legal and security challenges remain, just months before the proposed elections in December.

After a decade of conflict, insecurity and political fragmentation, Libya could be looking at a more stable future and sustainable peace.

Libya has made reasonable progress in addressing the chaos and violence that emerged with the Arab uprisings in 2011. In October 2020, the two warring partiessigned an official ceasefire agreement, which has broadly held so far, bringing about a reconciliation process designed to culminate in elections this coming December.

Despite the steps taken in recent months, there are a few prime considerations for the interim government: forcing out the foreign fighters and mercenaries, drafting a new constitution, and possibly holding elections by the end of the year.

On June 23, Germany and the UN hosted a follow-up to the January 2020 Berlin Peace Conference on Libya to discuss progress and ongoing challenges, seeking to build a stable and peaceful future.

The conference renewed pledges to hold elections in December to replace an interim government in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dabaiba. The final declaration called for the total departure of foreign fighters without further delay and for all sides to refrain from activities that exacerbate the conflict, including financing military facilities or recruiting foreign fighters and mercenaries.

Although many Libyans are eager to take to the polls, holding free and reliable elections requires a conducive political and security environment where all people can participate and engage in the political process and support paths of democratic transition.

Key challenger: Mercenaries

The presence of mercenaries, in particular, remains a significant security challenge and continues to impede progress toward holding national elections in December.

The power vacuum that occurred in the wake of Moammar Gaddafis death enabled various militia groups and mercenaries to gain a foothold in Libya. The unstable security environment, particularly in the east of the country, stands out, where thousands of irregular forces and mercenaries are reportedly based, moving around freely. They are not part of any government organisation and could risk renewing the conflict.

From Turkeys perspective, some countries that attended the Berlin conference failed to distinguish between Turkish forces on the ground and mercenaries and foreign fighters operating primarily under warlord Khalifa Haftars orders.

Turkish forces are there upon an official invitation by an internationally recognised, and United Nations-backed, government of Libya. Thus, the Turkish presence cannot be considered in the same light as foreign fighters in the country.

Since the November 2019 military agreement signed between Turkey and Libya, Ankara has been helping restructure the Libyan army and police forces and is engaged in the process of institution-building the country. Turkish forces are also helping prevent potential attacks by Haftars LNA.

Libyas new internationally recognised governmenthas offered assurances that the agreements are in place between Libya and Turkey. The prime minister of the GNUstated that these agreements fully correspond to the interests of Libya.

Some countries, including Russia and the UAE, have even refused to even acknowledge their presence in Libya in fact they claim that they have no involvement in the Libyan conflict, despite UNreports saying otherwise. However, the Wagner Group, a private military company linked to the Kremlin, has reportedly been operating in Libya since September 2019.

Furthermore, a UN reportsaid that the UAE has played a significant role in bringing hundreds of fighters from Sudans Darfur region to Libya to bolster Haftars LNA.

Holding elections

Libyas rival factions have agreed for a vote on December 24, 2021. Yet enormous challenges remain in uniting the country and preparing for elections. In this respect, following the Berlin conference, members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) recentlygathered in Switzerland to clear the way for national elections to be held on time.

The High National Election Commission (HNEC) has given a July 2021 deadline to the rival parties to agree on the constitutional foundations of the elections to avoid a delay to the December election.

Even though the participants of the Berlin conference expressed their support for the elections, Libyan delegates recentlyfailed to agree on a legal framework to hold presidential and parliamentary elections.

There is disagreement, for example, on whether to hold a referendum on a draft constitution prior to the elections or pass a temporary law and postpone broader constitutional questions. Furthermore, questions about candidate eligibility, such as whether they can have multiple citizenships, have to be addressed.

Recently, the chairman of Libyas High Council of State (HCS), Khalid al Mishri,said that Haftar lacks the legal prerequisites to get him on the ballots in December. According toan article from the draft constitution, those with dual citizenship cannot be candidates for the presidency.

More recently, there have been some mediareports that some of the LPDF delegates submitted a proposal that demanded no conditions be placed on presidential candidates regarding multiple citizenships or military rank. This demand was seen as an attempt to create conditions for Haftar to be a potential future candidate.

However, many representatives of the LPDF reportedly rejected the proposal, as Haftar is regarded as unfit for running owing to his US citizenship and military rank. Al Mishrisaid that Haftar sent his son to Geneva, specifically to pressure certain members of the LPDF to push for elections to take place without a constitution.

More recently, Haftar threatened a war if elections dont take place in December, saying that his forces will be ready to begin another offensive on Tripoli.

Nevertheless, the current reconciliation process and the UN sponsorship have contributed to increased optimism about a return to stability.

Given that the Libyan people are exhausted after ten years of war, occupation, turmoil and chaos, the international community must take more concrete steps to provide a safe environment to secure the holding of elections and fulfil the aspirations of Libyans for a more prosperous future.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

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Source: TRT World

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In fractured Libya, is stability finally on the horizon? - TRT World

Since the outbreak of the virus in 2019, Libya has only seen 202,000 cases and just 3400 deaths. [Photo: GNU]Dr Ali Al-Zanati, Minister of Health in the Government of National Unity, affirmed that the countrys epidemiological status is comforting and that, in comparison to neighbouring nations, Libya is regarded a safe zone.

According to the Minister, there have been 202,000 cases and 3400 deaths since the onset of the pandemic in March 2019.

During a joint press conference with the spokesman for the Government of National Unity, the Minister explained that statistics on the number of cases in isolation and care centres are few, if not non-existent, in some districts.

On the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, the Minister of Health urged prudence and social distance, as well as the wearing of face masks and strict adherence to social distancing rules, in order to safeguard as many people as possible.

The Minister of Health attributed the significant increase in positive results from the analysis to peoples awareness and sense of the importance of conducting the tests, which were limited to travellers. He also noted that repeated testing from citizens more than once and in more than one location will result in an inaccurate spike in positives.

According to Dr Al-Zanati, the Government of National Unity has mandated that extra attention and health procedures be taken at land and air outlets, particularly with neighbouring Tunisia.

The Minister of Health stated that 8 days after such safeguards were implemented and there was concern that positive cases would grow, a decrease in mortality and a decrease in oxygen demand were recorded, confirming that the majority of cases had been reported.

In a related context, the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has declared that it is preparing for next weeks vaccine campaign in towns where the epidemic situation has worsened.

According to the Libyan news agency (LANA), the Director of the Centres Vaccination Department, Abdalbaset Samiu, stated that the Centre had distributed the Sputnik V vaccine to the four branches (Tripoli-Benghazi-Sabha-Misrata) to begin distributing it to vaccination centres within its scope.

He also stated that 437,414 people have gotten vaccines thus far, with 905,000 people enrolled in the system.

We anticipate a shipment of Russias Sputnik V comprising 500,000 dosages, which is expected to come Saturday or Sunday as promised by the contracted supplier, he continued.

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Ministry of Health: Compared to neighboring countries, Libya's Covid situation is under control - Libyan Express

Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides has been going all out on a preemptive diplomatic strike aimed at garnering support in Brussels, Washington, and the international community to stop Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from revealing surprises to the world during a scheduled visit to the island on July 20.

Appearing Sunday as a guest on The Greek Current, a podcast by the Hellenic American Leadership Council in collaboration with Kathimerini, Christodoulides said it was critical that Erdogan be stopped from making more provocative and illegal actions that would negatively affect the interests of the United States, the European Union, and the international community.

Erdogan has been talking up his upcoming visit to the northern part of Cyprus, assigning special meaning on July 20 as Peace and Freedom Day for Turkish Cypriots, the very same hot summer day in 1974 viewed by Greek Cypriots in the south as an invasion when Turkish troops landed on the island in response to a Greek-inspired coup engineered by Athens.

While it is expected that statements about Varosha, an abandoned ghost town in the north set to reopen, would draw strong reactions from Greek Cypriots in the south, there were other rumors on social media that could have raised the alarm in Nicosia.

Erdogan said he would make a big announcement on July 20, prompting political pundits on social media to wonder whether recent visits to the north by Pakistani dignitaries could signal an attempt by the Islamic Republic to establish diplomatic relations with a Turkish Cypriot administration currently recognized by no other country except Turkey.

We are using all available means, which are diplomatic, political, and legal means in order to stop Turkey, Christodoulides said.

The Cypriot minister, who was in Brussels on Monday, held discussions with many of his counterparts including from France, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, but also Egypt and Pakistans foe India on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, citing a diplomatic source, it was particularly important for Cyprus to organize the working breakfast for the EU Foreign Ministers, with the Egyptian Foreign Minister as a guest, adding that the Egyptian minister praised the role of Cyprus in the region, while he referred to his interventions in the destabilizing role of Turkey.

Cairo has been at odds with Ankara since 2014 after Erdogan questioned in a speech at the UN General Assembly the legitimacy of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, an army general back in 2013 when he overthrew the government that had wide support from the Muslim Brotherhood, a group favored by conservatives in Turkey.

Christodoulides, a former career diplomat, also argued that if Turkey went ahead with its plans during the Varosha visit, other actions by Ankara could negatively influence the Middle East as well as the interests of the EU, US, and the international community.

If the international community is perceived by Turkey as weak or [in]decisive in its response, Ankara will see no reason to backtrack from implementing its planning in relation to Varosha, the minister said.

So whats important now is to act [pro]actively before Mr Erdogan comes to Cyprus, before July 20, in order as I told you to stop Mr Erdogan from proceeding with more provocations, the minister told the podcast.

Christodoulides said he also replied to a letter by US President Joe Biden and spoke on the phone with State Secretary Antony Blinken, stressing his main message that we act now, preventatively, so as not to find ourselves before a situation that is irreversible.

We cannot allow Mr Erdogan to deliver on his promises to announce, as he called it, surprises to the world during his upcoming illegal visit to the occupied part of Cyprus.

Christodoulides called on allies to join the effort, saying the only way to do so would be to send now a clear message of decisiveness from the international community.

Cyprus has been divided for decades between a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south, which also functions internationally as the Republic of Cyprus.

Multiple efforts at reaching a settlement collapsed one after the other, with the south insisting on a federal solution and the north wanting to part ways, with Turkish Cypriots accusing Greek Cypriots of not being sincere or ready to share equally the administration of the island. [Kathimerini Cyprus]

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Cyprus against the clock to stop Erdogan - Kathimerini English Edition

In the latest phase of her record sentence for whistleblowing, former National Security Agency linguist Reality Winner is a short drive to the blazing hot summertime beaches on Texass Gulf coast. But she cant get near them. She cant even go into the yard of a neighbor who invited her to aid in his beekeeping project.

Convicted under the Espionage Act for having shared a classified document on threats to election security with the media, Winner has been released to home confinement but wears an unwieldy ankle bracelet. It beeps even if she strays too far within her familys yard.

Not wanting her to miss out, a high school friend showed up on a recent day with a kiddie swimming pool and some sand. Mom, Im going to the beach today, Winner said, her mother Billie Winner-Davis recalled. The pair filled the kids toy and Winner waded in.

Winners family and friends are thrilled to have her home after four years behind bars a stint that took miserable turns as her release date neared. Shecontracted Covid-19 as part of a mass infection in her prison, filed a sexual assault complaint against a guard, and went thirsty and cold when her facility lost heat and water in February during Texass deadly winter storm.

I really want the public to know that theyre not seeing Reality Winner, theyre not hearing from Reality Winner, because she is under some serious restrictions.

Despite their elation that she is out of prison, though, Winners family and friends say she is far from free. Every day is still marked by intrusions, like the app carceral authorities require her to put on her phone to monitor her and needing prior approval to go to Walmart with her mother for errands. Winner is projected to be transferred from home confinement to supervised release in November.

Thats why they are continuing their year-and-a-half-long campaign for a presidential pardon or clemency, saying the whistleblower is being gagged from telling her own story.

I really want the public to know that theyre not seeing Reality Winner, theyre not hearing from Reality Winner, because she is under some serious restrictions, Winner-Davis said.

Winner-Davis added that Reality, who is under a gag order, is also banned from using social media, a condition her attorney, Alison Grinter, said is normal and up to the discretion of halfway house authorities.

Grinter, speaking recently on Democracy Now, said a pardon for Winner is both something she and her country deserve.

Reality released a document that gave us information that we needed to know at a time that we absolutely needed to know it, Grinter said. And she was in prison not because the information was a danger or put anyone in danger. She was in prison to salve the insecurities of one man who was concerned about the validity of his election win.

Left/Top: Reality Winner sits on her bed at her mothers home while charging her ankle monitor as she serves a home confinement sentence in Kingsville, Texas, on July 3, 2021. Right/Bottom: A landscape near Reality Winners home in Kingsville, Texas, on July 3, 2021.Credit: Photos: Christopher Lee for The Intercept

Winner is currently serving the longest prison sentence of its kind under the Espionage Act, a World War I-era law used in recent years to send journalists sources to prison, even as comparable defendants have simply gotten probation for charges of mishandling classified information.

The government itself acknowledges that Winners intent was to send the document she leaked to journalists and therefore warn the American public, rather than use it for personal gain. The NSA report detailed phishing attacks by Russian military intelligence against local U.S. election officials and was published in a June 2017 article by The Intercept. (The Press Freedom Defense Fund which is part of The Intercepts parent company, First Look Institute supported Winners legal defense.)

Released from a Fort Worth, Texas, federal prison one day shy of the four-year anniversary of her June 3 arrest, Winners path to her parents remote southern Texas home was a bumpy one. The journey began with a 23-day quarantine with five other women in a hospital patient-sized room. After that, her family picked her up for a long drive down through Texas in which they had a matter of hours to deliver her to a halfway house, where she stayed for a week before being released toher rural childhood home. There, paper labels with Arabic vocabulary words are still taped to household items early remnants from the series of events that would lead her to prison when, as a teenager eager to learn foreign languages, she signed up for the military.

Taking advantage of the window of time they had with her as they drove her to the halfway house, her family and close friends planned a series of surprises. Winner met her infant niece, whom the whistleblower had only seen on video chats and Shutterfly-printed postcards, due to visitation bans at prisonamid the pandemic.

While sitting in her parents car and sorting through her belongings, she saw the blond hair of her sister, Brittany Winner, in the distance in a park and tried to jump out of the moving vehicle. She dropped everything on her lap and just ran, her mother said. She ran to Brittany and the baby.

Her sister said the whistleblower was trembling, still unnerved by a guard who had told her that morning that she would not be released. Just the look in her eyes, she almost looked, like, dead, so traumatized and not really believing that everything was happening, Brittany Winner said. And, at some point, I was talking to her, she just reached up in the middle of my sentence to touch my face, and she said, Youre real, right?'

At the southernmost point in their trip toward home, two other loved ones were waiting for her: Wendy Collins, a family friend from Philadelphia who spearheads a social media campaign calling for her pardon, and Collinss partner.

They ate at a Thai restaurant as they counted down the minutes to her report time to the halfway house. Collins hugged the whistleblower for the first time since their friendship and Collinss tireless advocacy began.

Collins said, I flew for the hug.

Reality Winner gives her dog a kiss as they play outside at her mothers home in Kingsville, Texas, on July 3, 2021.

Photo: Christopher Lee for The Intercept

Reality Winner sits in a tarp full of beach sand, brought to her by a friend, at her mothers home in Kingsville, Texas, on July 3, 2021.

Photo: Christopher Lee for The Intercept

At her familys quiet home, Winner schedules her days in an orderly way, similar to her life before the arrest time slots for online yoga courses, cycling exercise routines, and a new part-time job as a researcher for a documentary filmmaker. She relishes spending time with her family dog, Domino, and cat, Fiona, since Winner lost ownership of her own pets, a dog named Mickey and cat named Mina, in the chaos after her arrest. In her down time, she sorts through books supporters have sent her and boxes of belongings from her Augusta, Georgia, home, which was raided by a fleet of armed federal agents whose interrogation of Winner would later be characterized by the government as a voluntary interview one in which she was never read her Miranda rights.

When the heat breaks in the evenings, her mother says Reality prefers to not watch TV, opting instead to breathe in fresh air on the back patio.

Shes seen people from all walks of life just be completely taken advantage of by the system, especially people of color. And that is something that she just cant tune out.

Looking toward the future, when she can speak publicly and take more control over her life, her sister said she expects the whistleblower to advocate for incarcerated people. Shes seen people from all walks of life just be completely taken advantage of by the system, especially people of color, Brittany Winner said. And that is something that she just cant tune out. She cant just live her quiet life.

When shes free to go to the water the Gulf of Mexico, not the kiddie pool out back the whistleblower hopes to go the Texas shoreline to plant mangroves, something Winner, long an environmental advocate, told her sister she wants to do in order to heal coastal ecosystems.

Grateful for even this incomplete freedom, the sisters send each other a near-constant flurry of updates. Not a day goes by when she and her sister dont exchange50 or more text messages and phone calls, including baby photos and videos of Reality practicing yoga with her ankle bracelet in her parents garage. I feel lucky to have my sister back, Brittany Winner said. And one of the things that I was scared of was that she was going to be changed you know, like damaged, like she wasnt going to be the same person because of four years in prison.

How can that not mess you up? But despite the trauma, I feel like shes the same,she said. At least with me. Shes the same person.

Originally posted here:
Home, but Not Free: NSA Whistleblower Reality Winner Adjusts to Her Release From Prison Taylor Barnes - The Intercept