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Podcast: The Fleecing of Libya: Billions of Dollars Missing and Everyone is at Fault
In the post-Gaddafi era, corruption in Libya is endemic and metastasized. The culture of corruption is so ubiquitous and widespread that Transparency International ranks Libya third before last in the MENA region, doing only better than Syria and Yemen. In this...
Libyan authorities are cracking down on civil society groups
Libyan authorities have imposed "severe restrictions" on local and international civil society groups, obstructing their work in the war-scarred country, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. "Libya's Government of National Unity (GNU) and other authorities are...
Libya recovers previously missing 2 tons of uranium
More than two tonnes of natural uranium reported missing by the UN's nuclear watchdog in war-scarred Libya have been found, a general in the country's east said Thursday. General Khaled al-Mahjoub, commander of eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar's communications...
Libya: Efforts by UN envoy to organize elections face resistance from the Libyans themselves
By Jihad Dorgham: The new UN envoy to Libya had hoped to usher in long-delayed elections, but his initiative is facing pushback from the eastern-based parliament and a lukewarm reception by its rivals in Tripoli. Senegalese diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily told the UN...
Libya: With thousands of migrants held in detention centers, Libya continues to violate human rights
Around 5,000 migrants are being held in official detention centres in Libya and they represent just the tip of the iceberg, the International Organization for Migration chief said Wednesday. "It remains very unacceptable in terms of the violation of the rights of...
Libya: New hopes of presidential and legislative elections in Libya this year.
The UN envoy to Libya on Monday announced a push to help the country organize presidential and legislative elections later this year. Elections were originally scheduled for December 2021, but were postponed indefinitely because of differences over controversial...
Egyptian Coptic Christians who were kidnapped in Libya are still detained in an illegal immigration center
Egypt's government said Friday it was "working around the clock" to secure the release of six Egyptian Coptic Christians who were kidnapped in conflict-ravaged Libya. "The six Egyptians are detained in an illegal immigration centre in western Libya," the foreign...
Africa says it wants to tackle the forgotten Libyan conflict
Arezki's Take: There have been so many conferences organized by Libya's North African neighbors, European nations, the UN and others, looking at ways to bring peace to the beleaguered nation. None of them succeeded. Now that the west is busy fending off a Russian...
Energy: Libya says agreement on major gas development project reached with Italy’s ENI
Libya's National Oil Corporation said Wednesday it had reached an $8-billion deal with Italian energy giant ENI to develop offshore hydrocarbon sites. "We have reached a deal with ENI to develop the oil and gas sector, by developing two offshore sites which together...
Most Arab leaders were no-show in regional meeting in Libya, unwilling to deal with Tripoli
Major Arab states boycotted a ministerial meeting hosted by Libya's interim government on Sunday, with just five of the Arab League's 22 members sending their top diplomats and even the bloc's secretary general staying away. The snub underlines Arab divisions over the...
Economy: Tunisia gets food donations from Libya
Food shortages and rising cost of commodities in Tunisia: briefly explained Conflict-wracked Libya donated several dozen trucks of food supplies on Tuesday to neighbouring Tunisia, the Libyan embassy said, months into an economic crisis that has seen repeated...
Libya: CIA Director William Burns meets with leaders of Libya’s rival governments
CIA chief William Burns has met Libya's interim premier weeks after the authorities handed the United States a suspect in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the Tripoli-based government said Thursday. The meeting in Tripoli, also reported by Libyan media, was part of the...
Podcast: Sahel and North Africa week in review 7 Jan 2023
Greetings to our second episode of Week in Review and a quick summary of what we are tracking in the Sahel and in North Africa. Today is Saturday, the 7th of January 2023. This past week was somewhat subdued in the region largely due to the year-end holiday season and...
Libya: 35-year-old Lockerbie bombing case gets into Libyan politics
By Jihad Dorgham: Libya's Tripoli-based leadership is facing a public backlash for handing Washington a suspect in the deadly 1988 Lockerbie attack, but is betting that the resulting US goodwill can strengthen its hand against rivals. The attack on a Pan Am jet over...
Libya: Treating each other as enemies, Libyan leaders carry out prisoner swap
Libya's unity government has carried out a prisoner exchange with rival eastern forces, releasing a pilot captured during strongman Khalifa Haftar's 2019 assault on Tripoli, local media reported Monday. According to the reports and images on social media, pilot Amer...
Libya: Mercenaries of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar accused of war crimes
Amnesty International accused Monday an eastern Libyan armed group of committing war crimes and serious abuses to impose the rule of its leader's father, military strongman Khalifa Haftar. The elite force led by Saddam Haftar is aimed at "crushing any challenge" to...
Libya: Court in Tripoli sentences 17 IS members to death
A Libyan court on Monday sentenced 17 people to death after finding them guilty of joining the Islamic State group and carrying out atrocities in its name, the prosecution said. The Tripoli court also sentenced two people to life in prison and 14 others to lesser jail...
European plane maker Airbus to pay less than 16 mil. euro to avoid corruption probe
A French judge on Wednesday allowed European aerospace firm Airbus to pay 15.9 million euros ($16.4 million) to avoid a corruption probe into aircraft deals in Libya and Kazakhstan between 2006 and 2011. Prosecutors from France's national financial crime unit (PNF),...
Libya: Tripoli-based government inks controversial defense agreements with Turkey
Libya's Tripoli-based prime minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah signed two deals with Turkey's defence minister on Tuesday, building on a 2019 agreement that angered European nations. Dbeibah's administration posted a statement saying the deals included "implementation...
Libya: 15 bodies found on Sabratha beach
Fifteen bodies were found on a beach near the Libyan city of Sabratha, some of them burned, the Libyan Red Crescent said Friday. The group did not identify the dead or say how they had died, but human rights groups said they were likely migrants. After being notified...
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