Libya, violence and disease

This video is called Libya: fatal Benghazi clashes between protesters and militia.

The latest violence erupted in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday in Benghazi’s al-Lithi district, not far from the city centre. Libyan Special Forces fought it out with rogue gunmen, leaving at least six soldiers dead and several injured: here.

From IRIN News:

Libya’s “Growing” Drugs/HIV Problem

17 June 2013

Tripoli — Doctors in Libya say they are seeing a “growing” number of patients with drug problems and a corresponding risk of HIV infection, in a post-Gaddafi era marked by limited law enforcement and government capacity.

“Every month more people come to us needing help,” said Abdullah Fannir, deputy director of Gargaresh psychiatric hospital in Tripoli.

“It’s part of the fallout from the revolution. Border control is weak, making it easy for drug-traffickers, and there’s more demand as well. Hundreds of thousands of Libyans were displaced, wounded or bereaved during the uprising.”

Doctors at Benghazi’s Al Irada drug addiction clinic, the only treatment centre of its kind in the country, say some of the most common addictions they have to treat are for Tramadol, a painkiller that stimulates the release of serotonin and can cause seizures, and heroin.

With heroin has come HIV/AIDS. A report by the Liverpool School of Popular Medicine published in April based on data collected in Tripoli before the uprising concluded that 87 percent of the city’s injecting drug users have HIV. That is the highest rate recorded anywhere in the world and compares to 2.6 percent in Tunis and 7.7 percent in Cairo.

Joseph Valadez was study director on the project and says the epidemic among the drug-using community must be tackled now to stave off a wider health crisis.

“Our results show quite clearly that there is a concentrated epidemic among Libya’s injecting drug users. They also show progress towards a concentrated epidemic among men who have sex with men and, although we weren’t able to do an in-depth survey, our results also point to high levels of HIV infection among sex workers. When you take all this together it is very worrying…

“Often the men who have sex with men are also married, as are those who use prostitutes and drugs. These groups are vehicles for the general population to be infected and Libya needs to address this issue now or it will face a huge problem in the future.”

Health services are limited. At the Al Irada clinic Libyans with addiction problems are helped to kick their habit with the help of psychologists and tailor-made drug courses. But this clinic has room for just 40 patients.

“It provides a good service but it’s far too small to serve the whole country,” said Alia Shaiboub, the National AIDS Programme’s (NAP) head of HIV awareness. “We deal with a lot of addicts who need this kind of treatment but it’s very hard to get them a place. At the moment there’s no way we can get treatment for them all.”

Data paucity

A lack of data is causing huge problems for those trying to fight Libya’s drug problem.

…

Reliable HIV data is hard to come by. According to official figures, around 12,000 people have been recorded as living with HIV, but Laila Aghil, head of Strategic Planning at NAP, says this number is a gross underestimate.

“Many people who have HIV don’t seek medical treatment and don’t ever come into contact with officials or doctors. This means official figures are just the tip of a very large iceberg.”

Part of the reason for the lack of data is lack of funds. Valadez says more money needs to be channelled into Libya’s addiction and HIV programmes.

“Both the Libyan government and international donors should provide much more money for harm reduction programmes and education as well as research. We need to look at the impact of the war and the overall prevalence of HIV in the country.”

“During the revolution it’s likely that HIV infection spread. People scatter when the war comes, and they scatter their infections as well. During war very often there is an increase in prostitution and sex work. There’s also sexual violence against women and young people and it is normal to see an increase in uncontrolled sexually transmitted diseases.”

Confronting the problem

Responding to the report by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Libyan government said it would treat the HIV epidemic among drug users as a matter of national priority. But, according to Fannir, so far nothing has been done.

“There is still no needle exchange programme and our doctors don’t have the right experience or the right drugs. In fact, not a single one of the report’s recommendations has been implemented. I believe because of this inaction the rate of HIV infection is rising among injecting drug users, even as the number of drug users increases.”

According to Fannir the worsening crisis has severe implications for the wider community.

“It is getting to the point that it threatens national stability. Drug dealing is fuelling militia violence. All this is undermining faith in Libya’s politicians and the effect of this should not be underestimated.”

Mustafa Gebreil is an independent member of Libya’s General National Congress (GNC) and member of the GNC Health Committee. He rejects the idea that battling addiction should be an immediate focus for the government.

“The Health Ministry is concentrating on crisis fighting. There are many issues that need attention in Libya, and because of this treating drug addicts is not a priority.”

The social stigma that surrounds HIV and drug taking is a big part of the problem, according to Alessandra Martino, an HIV specialist who has worked in Libya since 2005.

“HIV is very closely associated with vices like casual sex, homosexuality and drug taking: things that are unacceptable in mainstream Libyan culture. This means for Libyans HIV and drug abuse are not very fashionable areas to be campaigning about or working in.”

Revolution and rehabilitation

Accounts from drug users and outreach workers back up the reports by doctors that Libya’s drug problems are worsening. Salah is a recovering heroin addict at Benghazi’s Al Irada clinic and says heroin became increasingly easy to get hold of after the uprising.

“It was everywhere after the revolution. I originally gave up heroin in 2008 but I started to take it again after the liberation. I fought on the front lines and like other fighters I received a significant pay-out. A lot of my friends started to take it, and because I had the extra money it was difficult to stay away.”

“We know there is more distribution now,” said Belkis Abudher, a public health specialist working for NAP. “When we go into primary and elementary schools it is very clear that many of the children have already been exposed to drugs like Tramadol and hashish. This was not the case before the revolution.”

A lack of drug education is one of the factors behind the explosion in drug use in Libya, according to Fannir.

“During the Gaddafi era the general public knew very little about the dangers of drugs, and the situation isn’t improving. The chaos of revolution meant many of the existing outreach and education programmes collapsed, and few have been reinstated.”

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. ]

Related articles

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• Antiretroviral Prophylaxis For HIV Infection in Injecting Drug Users (medicationhealthnews.wordpress.com)
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• Libya Violence Kills 31 as Country Approaches Brink of Chaos (guardianlv.com)
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Massacre in NATO’s ‘new’ Libya

This Euronews video about Libya says about itself:

June 8, 2013

Death has returned to the streets of Benghazi. According to one medical source at least 25 have been killed and around 70 wounded in clashes in the eastern Libyan city.

By Jean Shaoul:

Libya destabilised by factional and military infighting

14 June 2013

Libya Shield Force, one of the many Islamist militias co-opted by the Libyan government to maintain law and order, fired on demonstrators using anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar fire, killing 31 people and injuring 127 in the eastern city of Benghazi.

The massacre, which took place last Saturday, had the worst single death toll since the formal end of the NATO-driven civil war that toppled the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in September 2011. It testifies to the increasing political turmoil in Libya, where the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan is struggling to maintain any semblance of political authority or independence from his imperialist sponsors.

It may yet presage renewed intervention by the NATO powers in defence of their geo-strategic and economic interests in the energy-rich country.

Benghazi has been beset with violence and lawlessness, with weeks of bombings and assassinations targeting the government’s new security forces, in part at least in retaliation for the government’s attempts to rein in the militias.

The protestors were rallying outside of one of the Libya Shield’s compounds to demand that it disband and submit to government forces. They complained that the government has bowed to the militias, giving them official status under the Interior Ministry’s Supreme Security Council (SSC), rather than demanding that they disband. Protestors taunted Wissam ben Hamid, the leader of Libya Shield and its predecessor the Free Libya Martyrs, which NATO had backed as “revolutionaries” against Gaddafi.

The government called in its own forces, but these were too weak to stop the clashes or prevent the slaughter. Libya Shield has since reportedly withdrawn its forces from the area. Zeidan declared three days of mourning, appointed a judge to investigate the massacre and ordered to break up the militias. Army Chief of Staff Youssef al-Mangoush, who was the militias’ chief advocate and had put Libya Shield on the payroll, has resigned. He was succeeded by his deputy, Salem al-Gnaidy, until a new army chief is picked.

Salem al-Gnaidy issued another impotent plea for the militias to put themselves under the command of the Libyan Army and said that he welcomed “any force” that wants to join the army, saying, “We are ready to pay bonuses to those who hand over weapons.”

The General National Congress (GNC), Libya’s parliament, notably did not issue any direct criticism of the Libya Shield Brigade. It cannot, because it is beholden to Libya Shield and hundreds of other brigades and militias, paying to buy their support since it could not win in any military confrontation.

Libya Shield recently used its monopoly of weaponry to push through the Political Isolation Law, banning anyone from holding government office that was in power under Gaddafi. Supporters of the group surrounded the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs as well as the National Congress building until Congress submitted. The Law is so wide-ranging that it prevents numerous members of Zeidan’s government from holding office. It benefits the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties outlawed under Gaddafi.

Zeidan has escaped the Isolation Law “guillotine” after a deal with the militias, whereby the diplomatic post he held decades ago before falling out with Gaddafi in 1980 is exempt. But the deeply unpopular interior minister, Ashour Showail, head of the Benghazi police force when the NATO-backed uprising began, was forced to resign. He was succeeded by Colonel Mohammed Khalifa al-Sheikh, who said he would maintain most of the existing apparatuses “so as not cause a security vacuum.”

Mohamed al-Magarief, elected as head of Libya’s parliament, was forced to resign last week, days before the law came into force. He served as ambassador to India in 1980 before defecting and joining the opposition and had lived in exile until 2011. He survived an assassination attempt last March at the hands of one of the militias demanding a purge of Gaddafi-era figures.

In his resignation speech, Magarief railed against the backing some legislators had received from the militias, criticising “the use of weapons or the threat to do so outside of the legitimate authority or without its orders.” His resignation has stalled the already fragile Congress, exacerbating the government’s political crisis.

The GNC said it will formally call for nominations to succeed Magarief, as well as for the posts of first and second vice chairman. Al-Ahram cited one possible candidate to succeed Magarief as Abdel-Wahab al-Qaid, a member of the Allegiance to the Martyrs bloc and the head of the National Border Guard for southern Libya.

Al-Qaid’s career indicates the character of the political forces brought to the fore by NATO. A former jihadist who fought with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, he is a senior member of the Libyan Islamic Fighters Group. He was arrested and imprisoned in the notorious Abu Salim jail and only released in 2011.

The unstable political and security situation in Libya is wreaking havoc with the economy, which has yet to recover from the devastating war.

Oil and gas account for 70 percent of the country’s GDP and 95 percent of its exports. NATO forces were careful to spare the energy infrastructure from its ferocious firepower, enabling oil production to regain its pre-war level of about 1.5 million barrels a day (b/d) by March last year, with Libya’s new leaders promising an increase to 2 million b/d or more. This rosy scenario has now collapsed.

Production has fallen as workers have struck for higher pay, and the militias have shut down the energy installations to extort cash from the government. Last month, protesters shut down the Feel oilfield in the south-west, while Tobruk, Ras Lanuf, Zueitina and other ports in the east from where oil is exported have been affected. Energy Minister Abdelbari Arusi said that this had cost $1 billion in lost revenue.

The Arabian Gulf Oil Company, part of Libya’s National Oil Company that operates in the east, has been unable to replace its crucial power-generation equipment at the Sarir and Misla oilfields. Output will soon fall from 380,000 b/d to around 300,000 b/d, a loss of $8 million a day at current prices.

US, British and French corporations withdrew some of their staff after the attack last January on a gas plant in neighbouring Algeria, close to its border with Libya. The oil firm BP, which had planned to start new drilling in 2011, withdrew more of its staff after militias seized control of the capital Tripoli and attacked the French embassy.

Facing a desperate political situation, Zeidan has appealed to the US for help in establishing a new military force, made up of fresh “non-militia” recruits. He attended a two-day meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels at the end of last month and secured its agreement to provide “technical assistance in terms of training” and send a “fact finding” team to Libya.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, “I believe that this would be a fitting way to continue our cooperation with Libya after we successfully took action to protect the Libyan people two years ago.” At last year’s Chicago summit, NATO had invited Libya to become a Mediterranean Dialogue partner.

The US has sent additional rapid reaction forces to reinforce a separate Marine Air Ground Task Force, to a base in Sigonella, Italy, which carries out training missions in Africa. Eileen Lainez, for the Pentagon, said in reference to Libya, “The unit, which is temporarily deployed to Sigonella, is aimed at providing a quick response in the region if required.”

Related articles

• 28 dead as protesters attack ex-Libya rebel HQ: medics (dailystar.com.lb)
• Libya: Extremists Setting Up Shop in Libya (ionglobaltrends.com)
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Africans tortured in NATO’s ‘new’ Libya

This video is called LIBYA The Racist Lie Of “Black African Mercenaries” Perpetuated By Rebels, Western Media.

From the Daily Trust, in Abuja, Nigeria:

Libya Deports 1500 Africans

By Abdulkadir Badsha Mukhtar, 30 May 2013

Many Nigerians and some other African nationals are now stranded in Agadas, Niger Republic after been deported by Libyan authorities. Two people were reported dead on their way to Niger out of about 1500 Africans who claimed to have been tortured while in detention before transported in 10 vehicles which took them to Agadas.

Some of them who spoke to BBC Hausa Service said they were arrested in their houses and shops where they run their daily business.

BBC reported that among the deported persons included Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Cameroon, and Cote d’ Ivoire nationals among others.

A Nigerian explained that “when they arrested me, I asked them to let me wear my clothes but one of them said no, you are going to wear your clothes when you get back to your country, but not here.”

“They took us to a place where there were no toilets. Now we are here, some of us do not even have decent clothes,” he said.

Related articles

• Torture in Libya continues (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
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• African refugees stranded in Hamburg (bbc.co.uk)
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A Somali refugee’s horrible experiences in Libya

This video, by CBS in the USA about Tawergha in Libya, says about itself:

Oct 23, 2011

Black Africans in Libya are being discriminated by brown skin Libyans. Racial slurs are directed at them, or worse.

From Amnesty International in London:

Libya: ‘I Cannot Explain How Terrible the Situation Was’

23 May 2013

Press release

This is part of a special ‘People on the Move’ series, highlighting the human rights violations faced by migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in every part of the world. These profiles are being published around the launch of Amnesty International’s Annual Report 2013.

Abubaker Ali Osman, a Somali engineer until recently living in Libya, never imagined he would become a refugee. But when violence broke out in the North African country in early 2011, he was forced to flee. He rented a car with his wife and six children and drove to Tunisia, where they lived in a refugee camp for a year.

The Osman family now live in Germany, from where Abubaker spoke to Amnesty International about the challenges facing refugees.

I’m from Somalia but I moved to Libya in 1985. I was working as an engineer and teacher in a university in central Libya. I was living there with my wife and six children, who are all born in Libya.

I was working, doing a normal job, living a normal life. Everything was good until February 2011 when the uprising erupted. The situation became very dangerous. I was living in the university campus with my family but Libyans started accusing people from Somalia and other countries of being al-Gaddafi mercenaries. Many people were killed because of these false accusations even though many were like me, normal workers.

I was living in the campus of the faculty and it was safe there but the danger was around me. The threat was there. Also we were living very close to military installations that NATO was bombing. That was terrifying the children and all of us.

When the crisis escalated, we started hearing the noise of bullets nearby, plus the shortage of food and the mobs started getting closer. I got scared for my children and we decided to leave in August 2011.

My older children wanted to stay and started asking, “Where will we go?” I faced the reality that I come from Somalia, with a very different reality so there was nowhere to go.

So we decided to move. Reaching the border with Tunisia was not easy. We had heard many stories of people who faced problems on the road and that some people had been killed. But there was no alternative.

We rented a car, took some clothes and fortunately reached the Libya-Tunisia border safely.

When we arrived at the border, the UN agencies took us to the Choucha refugee camp. We lived there for nearly a year.

The situation there was very difficult.

Thousands of people had left Libya for Tunisia. More than 3,000 people were staying in Choucha refugee camp. They had nowhere else to go.

The UN gave us three tents to live in as we were a large family. We had food.

In the refugee camp sometimes there were problems between people. Organization was a problem and sometimes there were fights. There were also many problems when the sandstorms came. There were also clashes between the local Tunisians and the refugees.

For my children it was all very difficult. They had never seen anything like that. They wanted to go back but I explained to them it was too dangerous. After two months, they adjusted.

Two months after arriving, I started volunteering as a translator in the camp and so did one of my children.

I cannot express in words how difficult the situation was for everybody.

While we were at the refugee camp, the [UN Refugee Agency] UNHCR started to conduct some interviews. Many countries offered to accept refugees although unfortunately the UK and France, who were leading the NATO bombardment, took hardly anybody! My file was fortunately accepted by the German government.

It was a long process and some people are still there waiting but fortunately our file was processed fast. We were lucky.

It’s hard to explain how great it was to be in that terrible situation and be given that news.

On 2 September 2012 we were told that we were going to Germany the next day. We didn’t sleep that night.

When we arrived in Germany we landed in Hanover. We finally slept safely for the first time in one year.

We are now in Berlin. My children are going to school and my wife and I are learning German.

I sincerely hope that now, in Germany, this family will never meet German nazi terrorists or other xenophobes.

Related articles

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Torture in Libya continues

This video says about itself:

Shocking video: Libyan rebels cage black Africans, force-feed them flags

Mar 2, 2012

Video courtesy: http://www.liveleak.com

A shocking video has appeared on the Internet showing Libyan rebels torturing a group of black Africans. People with their hands bound are shown being locked in a zoo-like cage and forced to eat the old Libyan flag. ­”Eat the flag, you dog. Patience you dog, patience. God is Great,” screams a voice off-camera.

From IRIN, humanitarian news and analysis:

Libyans in North Africa Scared to Return Home

16 May 2013

Cairo — Until government and revolutionary forces attacked the Libyan town of Bani Walid, about 170km southeast of the capital Tripoli in October last year, Abdullah Warfella had been determined never to leave.

But after two weeks of imprisonment and torture, the 68-year-old former contractor fled.

“They accused me of supporting [former ruler Muammar] Gaddafi during the revolution, which is not true at all,” Warfella told IRIN in Cairo. “These people have turned life into hell for people, not just in Bani Walid, but everywhere in Libya.”

Warfella is one of tens of thousands of Libyans who have fled to Egypt. Many are accused, often falsely they say, of having fought in pro-Gaddafi forces in 2011, or having publicly expressed support for him.

Far from home, many struggle to find employment and affordable accommodation, and lack almost any formal support. But they fear revenge attacks should they return home.

“There is a persistent desire inside Libya now for taking revenge on whoever took sides with Gaddafi against the revolutionaries, even if these people who took sides with Gaddafi were not influential people or fighters themselves,” said Salah Al Turki, a senior executive from the Cairo-based NGO Libyan Foundation for Human Rights (LFHR).

“Some of Gaddafi’s supporters who initially left Libya in the wake of the downfall of the Libyan dictator and then returned to their home towns faced problems. Gaddafi’s supporters in other countries watch all this and are filled with fear to return, lest they should meet the same fate.”

The number of Libyans who have fled the country is not clear as very few register with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

A source in the Libyan Ministry of Social Affairs said there were 430,000-530,000 Libyans in Tunisia. LFHR estimates the number of Libyans who had come to Egypt after the demise of Gaddafi’s regime at 750,000, although the Libyan Embassy in Cairo told IRIN the number is not more than 30,000. Algeria is also thought to shelter tens of thousands of Libyans.

Despite its geographical size, the Libyan population is only around six million, and government officials say that having such large numbers of citizens outside Libyan borders is a humanitarian and security concern for the government.

Related articles

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France and Libya, Mali violence

This photo of a French Foreign Legion soldier, part of the invasion of Mali, shows the real face of that war.

That war is not “against Al Qaeda terrorism” (supported by the French government in Libya, and still in Syria). It is not for women’s rights, human rights or secularism.

It is in support of a military dictatorship.

It brings death, mainly to Malian civilians.

This war is a neo-colonial war.

By Jean Shaoul:

Libya wracked by protests targeting government and French forces

3 May 2013

Violence is engulfing Libya’s capital city, Tripoli. Coming less than a year after elections that were trumpeted as a vindication of the NATO-led invasion to topple the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, the renewed clashes testify to the tenuous hold that Prime Minister Ali Zeidan’s government has over the war-torn country.

Last week, a car bomb blew up outside the French embassy, wounding two guards and several residents and causing extensive damage to buildings nearby. The bombing was thought to be the work of an Al Qaeda-linked group opposed to the French intervention last January in Mali against Islamist forces that had taken control over the northern part of that country. The previous week, Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM), Al Qaeda’s North African arm, had threatened retaliation.

Yesterday, a bomb destroyed a police station in the eastern city of Benghazi. There were no casualties.

Only a few days ago, the French parliament voted to extend its military mission in Mali, while the United Nations has raised the prospect of a second “parallel” task force to carry out “anti-terrorist” operations “outside the UN mandate”. This special unit is to be set up primarily by France and will be stationed either within Mali’s borders or elsewhere in West Africa.

French embassies across North Africa had been on high alert since the bomb attack on the United States consulate and a CIA facility in Benghazi in September that killed the US ambassador and three other officials, and particularly after armed militants seized hostages in the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria, demanding a prisoner release and an end to France’s operations in Mali. Thirty-eight civilians were killed in the Algerian army’s botched rescue operation.

France worked closely with Qatar and other Gulf petro-monarchies, which financed, armed and trained Islamist forces to oust Gaddafi, and is currently working with Doha, as well as Ankara and Riyadh, which are backing forces including the Al Nusra Front, which is linked to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, in a sectarian war to overthrow Syria’s president Bashar Al-Assad and isolate Iran.

The NATO war undermined the tenuous equilibrium Gaddafi helped keep among Tuareg and other tribal groups in the Sahara. Together with the influence of regional Islamist groups, boosted by NATO’s decision to place Al Qaeda-linked Libyans in positions of power, this undermined the Malian military’s control over the country’s restive north.

Some of these forces sought to wrest control of Mali and its mineral resources from the French-backed military junta in Bamako, cutting across France’s geo-strategic and commercial interests in Libya and its former colonies in North and West Africa.

France sent its military into Mali to drive out the Islamist and tribal armed forces. Now, Islamist groups ejected from Mali have moved north, crossing the Sahara through Algeria and Niger back into Libya, fuelling a growing insurgency. The cynical policy of using Islamists to advance France’s interests is now backfiring, as it did against the US in Benghazi last year, destabilising the NATO-installed regime.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who flew to Libya, said France “would work with the Libyan authorities to find out who had carried out the attack.” This may mean the dispatch of French special forces.

In other incidents, at least 200 gunmen have been surrounding the foreign ministry, the interior ministry and the state news agency since Sunday, demanding that officials who had worked for Gaddafi be banned from senior positions in the new government. On Tuesday, they occupied the finance ministry. Policemen also stormed the interior ministry earlier in the week, protesting pay.

There have been growing protests against former regime figures who still hold important positions. Last March, protesters barricaded legislators inside the Congress building for hours, insisting they pass a law prohibiting members of the old regime from holding office. Such a law, depending upon how it is implemented, would affect 80 percent of the National Congress, and if extended to the judiciary would remove almost all the judges.

Crucially, it would affect the cabinet, which includes ministers from the National Forces Alliance, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, and the Justice and Construction Party, as well as so-called independents, regional leaders and some former regime figures. Their confirmation by Congress last October led to angry protests outside the Congress building, which were dispersed by gunfire from the security forces.

Zeidan was a former diplomat who fell out with Gaddafi in 1980 and lived in exile in Switzerland where he worked as a lawyer. He was one of the founding members of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NSFL), which worked for the armed overthrow of the Libyan regime in the 1980s, backed by Saudi Arabia and the CIA.

In 2011, he served as the National Transitional Council’s European envoy and played a key role in persuading French president Nicolas Sarkozy to support the anti-Gaddafi forces. His party came second in the elections after the National Forces Alliance.

The NATO-led neo-colonial invasion of Libya in 2011 cut oil output, its primary source of revenue, to virtually zero and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure. As a result, the economy contracted by more than 40 percent in 2011, from which it has yet to recover. Libya already suffered from massive social inequality, 50 percent youth unemployment, large economic disparities between the regions, and corruption. All of these problems were exacerbated by the war, which forced a million people to flee their homes.

Libya now functions as a global weapons bazaar, sending arms and fighters to Syria and other conflict areas. Within Libya, there are hundreds of militias, many affiliated to Al Qaeda, which fought in the NATO war against the Gaddafi regime.

These armed brigades now fight pitched battles against rival groups for “zones of influence” in Libya’s towns and cities. There were particularly deadly clashes in Zintan and Zuara over who should guard the oil and gas complex in Western Libya belonging to Mellitah, a joint venture between Libya and Eni, the Italian energy group, before the army restored order.

A recent report from the International Crisis Group spells out Libya’s pervasive insecurity. Armed gangs proliferate and lawlessness abounds. There is no functioning justice system in many parts of the country. Armed groups, originally sanctioned by Libya’s Transitional National Council, continue to run prisons and enforce their own summary justice systems, including assassinations, torture, abductions, and attacks on government forces.

The government is trying to cut the flow of men and weapons into its southern border region with the help of surveillance equipment supplied by Washington, which has set up a base for drones in Niger, from which it can monitor Mali and Libya. The Libyan government has also completed a 108-mile trench through its southwest desert border area to deter smugglers.

Zeidan is seeking to clear the militias out of the eastern port city of Benghazi, where attacks by Islamist militants are on the rise, but lacks the armed forces to do so. As of last December, the US has been supplying Libya with drones and an Orion electronic warfare aircraft to help it gain control of the city.

The government has launched a crackdown on the militias in Tripoli, with security forces stationed throughout the city. They have emptied several illegal detention centres and seized 36 bases used by the militias.

The continuation of these conflicts and the descent into street fighting expose as a lie the justification for the NATO-led war for regime change—that it would bring democracy and human rights—and the so-called left groups that supported it. These were convenient fictions behind which the US and its allies could advance their interests—by taking control of Libya’s oil wealth.

Nicolas Sarkozy was cheered in Tripoli on a recent visit. But the former French president could soon fall from grace if his alleged dark dealings with Gadaffi come to light: here.

The security situation in the Libyan city of Benghazi continues to deteriorate: here.

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British diplomats in Libya fear lethal wars blowback

This video is called Car bomb hits French Embassy in Libya, 2 guards injured.

After Al-Qaeda and similar groups were allies of the USA, Britain, France and other NATO countries in the Libya war (which they still are in the Syria war) … the United States ambassador in Libya was killed by former allies of NATO.

NATO’s “new” Libya turned out to be unsafe for British, and Dutch, citizens.

Then came the turn of France for violence.

And, now the turn of British diplomats, whose lives David Cameron endangers with his war policies, may come.

From the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Beijing):

Libya: British Embassy in Libya Suspends Work Amid Fears

24 April 2013

Tripoli — The British embassy has suspended work in Libya since Tuesday until further notice, after the French embassy was bombed in Libya’s capital Tripoli earlier in the day.

An employee at the British embassy, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that the British embassy could be closed for several days.

The bombing of the French embassy, which left two guards injured, led to a sense of panic among foreign embassies in Libya.

…

Last year, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and two of his guards were killed by an armed attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in eastern Libya.

Recently published cabinet documents reveal that Canada was plotting to cash in on its prominent role in the U.S.-led war against Libya even before the fighting had stopped: here.

Americans are exhibiting an isolationist [?] streak, with majorities across party lines decidedly opposed to American intervention in North Korea or Syria, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll: here.

Related articles

• French embassy bomb attack, blowback from Libya, Mali wars (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• French embassy in Libya bombed (abc.net.au)
• Libya car bomb hits French embassy, wounds guards – Reuters (reuters.com)

Swaziland royal dictatorial censorship

This video says about itself:

Swaziland residents question king’s rule

The king of the tiny African nation of Swaziland is facing mounting discontent over his lavish life style.

While King Mswati the third and his 13 wives live in luxury, it is a much different story for most of his subjects.

From MISA-Swaziland:

Swaziland: Support Pours in for Swaziland Editor Threatened With Jail

23 April 2013

Support continues to pour in for Bheki Makhubu, an editor in Swaziland who was recently threatened with a two-year jail term for “scandalising the court”. Makhubu was ordered to pay Emlangeni E200,000 (approximately US$21,500) or face two years in prison by Justice Bheki Maphalala last Wednesday, 17 April 2013.

Makhubu edits one of Swaziland’s few independent sources of news, The Nation magazine, published by Swaziland Independent Publishers. The magazine was found guilty of “contempt by scandalizing the court” following its publication of two articles in 2009 and 2010 that criticised Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi.

The summary of Justice Maphalala’s ruling mentions the “right to freedom of expression and opinion” and says “judges and courts are open to criticism provided that the criticism is fair and legitimate and does not exceed accepted boundaries”. In this case, however, the judge told The Nation it was “guilty of contempt by scandalizing the court”.

Over the weekend, Swazi media and other free expressions organisations came out in support of Makhubu and criticised the heavy penalties both the journalist and the magazine are facing.

The Monday (22 April) editorial of the Times of Swaziland described the sentence as “an attempt [by the Judiciary] to put a lid on complaints”. Mbongeni Mbingo, managing editor of the Swazi Observer, which is owned by an investment fund controlled by King Mswati III, wrote a ‘blank page’ opinion piece titled ‘Dear Judge Maphalala’.

The Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ) has been quoted by local media as saying they had set up a fund to assist Makhubu and The Nation. Details of the fund are still not available but SNAJ president, Mfanukhona Nkambule, can be contacted on mobile: +268-7621 6503.

Meanwhile, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has said it “objects in the strongest terms to the conviction and sentencing” of Makhubu. In a statement, Sanef further urged the South African government and African Union to “more vigorously remind the Swazi authorities of the importance of a free press and open democratic environment.”

Makhubu is expected to appeal the conviction and sentence on Tuesday, 23 April 2013. It is not yet clear whether the appeal will be heard immediately or at a later stage, possibly after several months.

MISA will continue to send updates.

For comments or queries, please contact:

Vuyisile Hlatshwayo, MISA-Swaziland National Director

Email:

Mobile: +268 76156605

OR

Levi Kabwato, MISA Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring & Research

Libya: Journalist Freed On Bail but Still Faces Criminal Defamation Trial: here.

Related articles

• Swaziland – Magazine editor gets two years in prison or stiff fine (en.rsf.org)
• Editor Set for Two Years Jail in Swaziland (247latestnewsupdate.com)
• Swazi civil society warns diplomats of government clamp down (newstimeafrica.com)
• Swazi regime detain PUDEMO member for handling pamphlets on state of emergency anniversary (newstimeafrica.com)
• Swazi women rally against “abuse and inequality” (newstimeafrica.com)
• Government sells maize donated by Japan (guardian.co.uk)

French embassy bomb attack, blowback from Libya, Mali wars

This video is about the bomb attack on the French embassy in Tripoli, Libya.

After Al-Qaeda and similar groups were allies of the USA, Britain, France and other NATO countries in the Libya war (which they still are in the Syria war) … the United States ambassador in Libya was killed by former allies of NATO.

NATO’s “new” Libya turned out to be unsafe for British, and Dutch, citizens.

It seems that now it is the turn of France.

From the BBC:

France condemns Libya embassy attack

23 April 2013 Last updated at 10:06 GMT Help

The French foreign minister has strongly condemned an apparent car bomb explosion outside the country’s embassy in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Two guards were wounded in the blast, which completely destroyed the embassy’s reception area and parts of neighbouring homes.

The BBC’s Rana Jawad says embassies in the region have been on alert since France began its military operation in Mali.

See also here.

Related articles

• UN report reveals Libya as hub for arms deliveries to insurgents in Syria and Mali, fails to identify state sponsors of terrorism and elicits systemic flaws of UN System (nsnbc.me)
• Absolute Lawlessness: Libyan “Democracy” Two Years After NATO Air War (globalresearch.ca)
• Thousands of Libyan missiles from Qaddafi era missing in action (cbsnews.com)
• Syria fading away off stage as North Korea has center stage …… off stage Al – Qaeda of Iraq has merged with Syrian rebel force al – Nusra (fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com)
• the french don’t appreciate the US strategy of arming jihadis and killing them at the same time (niqnaq.wordpress.com)
• UN: Libya Arms Fueling Mali, Syria Wars (news.antiwar.com)

‘Tunisian murder suspects escaped to Libya’

This video from Tunisia is about the many people at the funeral of murdered Leftist politician Chokri Belaid.

From Tunis Afrique Presse (Tunis):

Libya: ‘Two Suspects in Chokri Belaid’s Assassination Escaped to Libya’ – PPDU S-G

17 April 2013

Tunis — “Two suspects involved in the assassination of Chokri Belaid are now in Beni Walid (Libya)”, Secretary-General of the Unified Patriotic Democratic Party (PPDU) Zied Lakhdhar told TAP.

During the sit-in staged each Wednesday outside the Ministry of the Interior to claim truth about the assassination of Chokri Belaid, the Secretary-General of PPDU said “former Minister of the Interior Ali Larayedh and Tunisia’s Ambassador to Libya would be involved in the escape of the two suspects”.

Related articles

• Libyan war refugees at World Social Forum (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Thousands of Tunisians call for Islamist government to quit (dailystar.com.lb)
• Salafists behind Belaid’s murder, four held: Tunisia minister (dailystar.com.lb)
• Tunisia president testifies in Belaid murder probe: office (dailystar.com.lb)
• From London to Tunis to Paris, Tunisians Release Balloons to Honor Chokri Belaid (tunisia-live.net)
• Tunisia takes steps to prevent young people from joining Jihadists in Syria (nzweek.com)
• Lawyers Criticize Delayed Release of Belaid Murder Suspect Photos (tunisia-live.net)