Archive for the ‘Libya’ Category

Libyas east-based parliament votes to suspend PM – Africanews English

One of Libyas two administrations voted Tuesday to suspend and investigate its prime minister, accusing him of failing to achieve his governments objectives, the parliaments spokesperson said. Fathi Bashagha was prime minister of Libyas eastern-based parliament, known as the House of Representatives, which operates in Tobruk.

Torn by civil conflict since 2011, Libya is divided between two rival governments, each backed by international patrons and numerous armed militias on the ground. Libyas Tripoli-based government is headed by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

Mohamed Mansour, a spokesperson for Bashagha, said the former prime minister would soon publish an official statement regarding Tuesdays decision.

In a recorded statement , Abdullah Belhaiq, the parliament spokesperson, criticized Bashagha for failing to deliver on the governments pledge to enter the capital, Tripoli, the seat of the western rival administration.

Bashagha, who was elected as prime minister in February 2022, tried to seat his government in the capital last May, arriving in Tripoli with a number of his Cabinet ministers.

Clashes soon broke out between rival militias, forcing the former air force pilot to retreat to the city of Sirte.

A number of members of the House of Representatives asked in more than one session that the Prime Minister be investigated, Belhaiq said.

However, few details on Bashaghas other alleged failings were provided. The House of Representatives finance minister, Osama Hamada, took over Bashaghas duties, he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, however, Bashagha issued a statement to the parliament announcing that he was passing his duties to Deputy Prime Minister Ali Qatrani. No further details were given. The conflict between the two statements could not immediately be reconciled.

Despite Belhaiqs explanation, Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya specialist and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, believes the suspended premier may have out-served his usefulness to Khalifa Hifter, commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army. The group is the dominant armed force in the countrys east and south.

Hifter and his family are seeking more influence in Tripoli and have been engaging in regular talks with Dbeibahs nephew along with militia leaders from the west, Harchaoui said.

The U.N.s special representative to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, unveiled a new initiative in late February aiming to usher the divided country to the ballot box before the end of 2023. Both parliaments have agreed on a joint committee to draft electoral law for the vote, however, progress has since slowed.

A previous U.N.-brokered process installed an interim government with Dbeibah at its head in early 2021 with the aim of guiding the country to elections later that year. The elections were never held following disagreements over several key issues, including the eligibility for presidential candidacy.

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Libyas east-based parliament votes to suspend PM - Africanews English

Sarkozy on trial for alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign? – The Africa Report

The French political scene is buzzing with the rumour that Nicolas Sarkozy is dreaming of replacing an Elisabeth Borne, whom rumours speculate is burnt out, at Matignon after the forced passage of the pension reform.

If the former President of the Republic has trouble getting used to retirement, the judiciary is not hanging up its boots any more than he is. Emmanuel Macron is not unaware of the swords of Damocles hanging over the head of the putative prime ministerial candidate, such as the so-called eavesdropping case a decision by the Paris Court of Appeal on 17 May or the Bygmalion scandal, the appeal of which is due to be heard in November

Another procedure reminds Sarko of his bad habits. In 2012, a few months after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the investigative website Mdiapart published a handwritten note attributed to the former head of Libyan foreign intelligence Moussa Koussa, suggesting that, one year before the 2007 French presidential election, the Gaddafi had promised the right-wing candidate 50m ($54m) for his campaign. Sarkozy later won the election and the Libyan pest was received in France, with great pomp and circumstance, during the first year of his lone presidential term.

After a 10-year investigation into Libya, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Malaysia, tens of thousands of pages of proceedings, and 13 indictments those of Sarkozy in 2018 and 2020 the final indictment of the National Financial Prosecutors Office(PNF) requested, on 10 May, Sarkozys referral to the criminal court, to be tried for concealment of embezzlement of Libyan public funds, passive corruption, illegal financing of an electoral campaign, and criminal association with a view to committing an offence punishable by 10 years imprisonment. Regarding the Mdiapart document, the accused said: Everyone knows that it is a fake.

Moving forward, 11 other defendants are expected to take the stand, including former French ministers Claude Guant, Brice Hortefeux, and Eric Woerth; former senior French official Thierry Gaubert; Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, and Franco-Algerian middleman Alexandre Djouhri.

This judicial case, now 10 years removed from the Libyan Spring, is being followed closely in Africa. In the north and south of the continent, some nostalgic supporters of the pan-Africanist leader consider his fall as a plot and the chaos of Libya as a contributing source of the security crisis in the Sahel.

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Sarkozy on trial for alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign? - The Africa Report

Libyan government faction signs reconstruction deal with international consortium – Global Construction Review

Libyas Ministry of Investment has signed an agreement with Chinese, British, French, and German companies to reconstruct the countrys cities once the countrys 12-year-long civil war is over.

According to the Libya Herald, the agreement was signed between the Government of National Stability, based in the eastern city of Sirte and led by Fathi Bashagha, and the BFI Management Consortium.

A source at the Tripoli-based Libyan Railways told the Libya Herald that the agreement had no involvement from the Tripoli-based Aldabaiba regime.

BFI Management is led by China Railways and includes China Overseas Engineering Group, French engineer Alcatel-Lucent, British consulting engineer Arup, and German tunnelling specialist Herrenknecht.

BFIs chairman Saleh Atia Ibrahim said on the consortiums website that its job would be to rebuild transport, water and healthcare infrastructure.

The Libyan people have aspirations for peace, tranquillity and mutual respect throughout their nation, he said. This post-conflict recovery project will underpin and stimulate the peace with economic activity, growth and development for their, and their Nations benefit.

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Libyan government faction signs reconstruction deal with international consortium - Global Construction Review

UNDP’s Local Peacebuilding and Resilience programme in … – Libya Herald

Further to the UNDP and Libyas Ministry of Planning and Ministry of Local Government launching the Local Peacebuilding and Resilience programme in southern Libya on 10 May, the Director of the International Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Planning, Taher Al-Baour, provided further details on the project.

Speaking exclusively to Libya Herald, he explained that the programme aims to build local peace and recovery for the residents of the south to benefit and improve services for nearly 400,000 Libyan citizens.

It also aims to implement 100 development projects, provide 5,000 jobs, involve 70 companies from the private sector in new partnerships, and work on 25 projects aimed at the return of the displaced from several cities in the south of Libya.

Compatible with Libyas strategic development plansHe said this programme was compatible with the strategic plans for development in Libya and constitutes one of the national priorities that contribute to the distribution of joint programmes with the United Nations and Libya to the most affected, fragile and marginalized cities and regions in the south.

Al-Baour said this programme is important to solve some of the ongoing crises in southern Libya, especially the areas that have witnessed multiple conflicts and unrest and neglect over the past decades.

It is worth noting that the UNDP is working to establish sustainable peace and strengthen the local economy in southern Libya by supporting the authorities to provide basic services and create job opportunities for youth and women.

UNDP launches Local Peacebuilding and Resilience programme in southern Libya (libyaherald.com)

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UNDP's Local Peacebuilding and Resilience programme in ... - Libya Herald

Libya: Why The High Council Of State (HCS) Wants To Develop … – Eurasia Review

The High Council of State (HCS) discussed political and security developments in Libya, including what it described as the divergence of the Government of National Unity (GNU) from the roadmap devised in the Geneva forum. The country faces a lack of transparency, its failure to be subject to accountability sessions or hearings, and its violations towards the legislative competencies of the existing councils, which included the statement of oil production, its expenditures, and revenues, in addition to the opening of the real estate registry, which was closed by a law from the Transitional Council, and its failure to carry out the preliminary procedures for elections, especially with regard to purifying the registry, which was committed by the GNU by signing long-term agreements that are binding for the Libyan state.

A Libyan mobile phone was hacked. At first, the system was operating normally, but after the countrys development was discussed by Parliament, the company was hacked. But the Telecom Holding Company denied any data leakage related to the users of a company, but the company was subjected to electronic attacks, and the company explained that the data that was attacked was related to the internal system of the employees within it and not the call log or the social networking accounts of the users. We can see from this that the government used new technology to control the country.

The company has formed a cybersecurity team to confront such attacks and protect the data of Libyan citizens, but the power of the government and militias is much greater than the power of the internal system. The Libyan website was hacked. Hackers seized data related to financial and accounting documents, personal information, passport data, auditor reports, strategic information, marketing data, and non-disclosure documents. And contracts from the Libyan company, a record of correspondence and conversations with the companys management.

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court issued four new secret arrest warrants for crimes allegedly committed in Libya, he applied for two additional arrest warrants, but the judges have not yet decided on these two requests. The memoranda are currently being adhered to, stating that a team from the International Criminal Court will visit Libya in the coming days to discuss opening an office for the International Criminal Court in coordination with the Libyan authorities, stressing that the International Criminal Court is in contact with the families of the victims and survivors of violations in Libya and that the International Court sent 20 missions and collected more than 500 pieces of evidence, including audio clips, videos, and satellite images documenting war crimes in Libya. The International Criminal Court confirmed that the Libyan government of national unity must cooperate with the International Criminal Court.

On adherence to the arms embargo in Libya, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antnio Guterres, affirmed his appreciation for the continued efforts of the European Union, under mandates from the Security Council, and that all Libyan, regional, and international parties take the necessary steps to ensure strict compliance with the arms embargo and the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement, including the action plan and the withdrawal of mercenaries, foreign fighters, and foreign forces.

In accordance with paragraph 24 (b) of resolution 1973 (2011), the Security Council authorized the Panel of Experts to collect, examine, and analyze this information and to provide reports to the Council, relevant partners, and stakeholders, in particular the Libyan authorities that remain important in the implementation of authorizations. That all member states can complete the efforts of Operation IRINI through inspection in their territories, including at ports and airports, of goods destined for or coming from Libya.

Focusing on training and building the capacity of members of the Libyan Coast Guard and Navy, as well as Libyan port and customs authorities, in accordance with the arms embargo, and the inclusion of safeguards to protect human rights, are important in this regard.

The Libyan Ministry of Interior also announced that the ministrys border guards succeeded in rescuing 62 migrants near the Libyan-Tunisian border after they got lost in the desert.

The ministry confirmed that the desert security patrols of the border guards, which are in charge of securing the Libyan-Tunisian border with a length of 200 km, rescued the migrants from Ras Jedir to Wazen, and that the rescued migrants were of different nationalities, and the government found them in separate groups in the desert, and health care was provided. They were detained at the security border crossing until they were referred to the specialized authorities.

In the end, chaos is still going on in Libya, including oil, security, and illegal immigration, so the parliament must demand legislation on the internal security file.

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Libya: Why The High Council Of State (HCS) Wants To Develop ... - Eurasia Review