Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Mustafa Fetouri
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Does Libya have the ability to hold accountable those responsible for the Derna disaster?
Libya’s Prosecutor General (PG), Al-Siddiq Al-Sour, on 15 September toured the flood devastated Derna, five days after it was struck by Storm Daniel, resulting in the killing, injuring and displacing of tens of thousands of people and washing away at least one quarter of the city into the sea. Entire...
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Western media is one-eyed when it comes to the Derna tragedy
Before reaching Libya on Sunday, 10 September, Storm Daniel passed through Bulgaria, Greece and Turkiye, leaving behind a trail of destruction and death. However, in all three countries the total number of people who perished was less than 20. The obvious question is what was so particular about Libya for...
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What the PA should and should not accept if the Saudis join the normalisers
It appears that the Biden administration is working on a tight schedule with one of its top foreign policy priorities: normalisation between its two Middle Eastern allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Next year, the administration will be totally consumed in the presidential campaign, since Joe Biden is seeking a...
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Election laws still a hurdle in Libya, while the UN Envoy likely to leave soon
On 2 September, 2022, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, announced the appointment of Abdoulaye Bathily, a former Senegalese Minister, as his Special Envoy to Libya, after almost a year since the previous envoy, Slovak Jan Kubis, resigned. Mr. Bathily’s appointment was approved by the UN Security Council on the...
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A secret meeting and fleeing Foreign Minister leave Dbeibeh in deeper trouble
One has to be naive to believe that Libya’s former Foreign Minister, Najla Al-Mangoush, unwarily and innocently walked into a meeting hosted by the Italian Foreign Minister and found Eli Cohen, Israel’s Foreign Minister, and, out of courtesy, shook his hand and that was it. This is what Ms....
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A strong anti-colonial case against France, with Niger as an example
Scenes of crowds, jostling and queuing at Niamey’s Diori Hamani International Airport in Niger are reminiscent of similar scenes that occurred in Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan, two years ago. Only short-sighted policy makers did not see the Kabul storm coming, until it engulfed the whole city...
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Tripoli latest clashes: triggers and potential consequences
Life is returning slowly to areas in the south and south-east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after almost two days of heavy clashes in which heavy weapons, including tanks, were used mostly in residential areas of Ain Zara, Salah Eddin, Tripoli University and Tariq Al-Shok. On Monday afternoon, 14...
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Why military intervention in Niger could be catastrophic for everyone
The 26 July military takeover in Niger appears to be part of a trend sweeping through the African Sahel that started a few years ago in Mali before spreading through the region. What is unique about it is the speedy response of the Economic Community of West African States...
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What remains of Jordan’s special role in Jerusalem 29 years after the peace treaty with Israel?
On 25 July, 1994, the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, after a spell of negotiations, signed the Washington Declaration in which they committed to signing a full peace treaty, ending the state of war between them, in place since Israel was created in 1948. The...
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Foreign meddling and competing interests hinder any solution in Libya
If you ask any Libyan citizen about the biggest obstacles hindering political solutions in the country, the most likely answer is: external interferences and the disputes of local de-facto politicians. Since the country fell victim to the so called “Arab Spring” in 2011, it became an open arena for all...
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Could oil revenue sharing trigger another war in Libya?
Oil has always been at the heart of the Libyan crisis ever since it erupted in 2011, and it remains to be a decisive factor in any long-term agreement for the troubled country. Revenue from oil is Libya’s main source of income, where almost every citizen gets cash from...
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How the Palestinian Authority became a sub-contractor for Israeli security
Founded in 1994 as a result of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian National Authority, or PA for short, was envisioned as an administrative temporary vehicle to administer some Palestinian areas from which Israel was to withdraw. That arrangement was supposed to prepare the Palestinians for some form of self...
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Jenin refugees: displaced yesterday, but fighting back today and tomorrow
Jenin is featuring a lot in the news these days, particularly its refugee camp known simply as Jenin Camp. The city is in the very north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with deep roots in the land of Palestine going back long before the State of Israel came into...
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Fascist Italy’s forgotten concentration camps in Libya
On 30 August 2008, Italy and Libya signed their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, ending their awkward past of feuding and diplomatic tensions over Italy’s colonisation of Libya from 1911 to 1943. Libya was seeking compensation, recognition of suffering of its people and, above all, an apology. Rome,...
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6+6 Commission is almost dead; 5 scenarios, including war, for Libya
The United Nations envoy, Abdoulaye Bathily’s top priority in Libya is to lead the country to concurrent presidential and legislative elections before the end of this year. He is on record to have said that much. Elections have been his focus since he assumed office in September 2022 but...
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Is Saudi Arabia foreign policy finally emerging out of the American mantle?
When Joe Biden was campaigning for president, he took every opportunity to rebuke Saudi Arabia for its human rights record. At one time, he even said that he would make the Kingdom a “pariah” if elected president. Before that, he said that, as president, he would “cancel the blank...
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What could Libya expect from re-elected Erdogan and warmer Cairo-Ankara ties?
To really see how important Turkiye is, both regionally and internationally, look at the list of heads of states, governments and foreign ministers who rushed to congratulate Recep Tayyip Erdogan over his election win a few days ago. Big and small, friends and potential foes rushed to offer their...
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Libya moderate Islamic interpretations under threat as more radicals penetrate government institutions
Hundreds of Libyans took to social media recently to express their anger and disappointment at the latest decision by the country’s General Authority for Awqaf and Islamic Affairs (GAAIA) to create what it calls “Guardians of Virtue”, supposedly to guard Islamic virtue in the Muslim society. GAAIA’s chairman, Mohammed...
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How the man who wants to be president of Libya committed political suicide
Libya’s Tobruk-based Parliament voted on 16 May to dismiss Fathi Bashagha, as prime minister of parallel government in the east of the country and replaced him with his Finance Minister, Osama Hamada. Only 70 parliamentarians out of 200-strong legislature voted to strip him of his duties. Mr. Bashagha was accused...
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Is the Palestine Resistance rendering Israel supremacy useless?
Life is returning to normal in besieged Gaza, but “normal” there is actually abnormal. Israel accepted the ceasefire after killing some 33 people, including children, injuring over 90 civilians and making nearly 2,000 housing units uninhabitable. Israel might have succeeded in killing top Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters but it...
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Gaza and the use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool for collective punishment
International humanitarian law derived from the Geneva Convention of 1949 and the 1977 Protocols, states clearly that no person should be punished for any actions he did not commit. This principle applies to all individuals, including prisoners of war, ethnic groups and the wider civilian population. It is supposed...
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Can the African Union regain the initiative in Libya?
The 12 year conflict in Libya remains exclusively a game of, mainly, Western countries, Russia and some regional powers, like Turkiye. Africa, of which the oil rich State is part, has been sidelined. African countries and their continental institutions, like the African Union (AU), have become mere spectators, while...
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'I am Sudan' motto and the elusive transition to democracy
On a banner displayed on one of the Sudanese Armed Forces’ Khartoum buildings, a phrase inscribe in red colour, reads “I am Sudan”, summing up the whole recent history of the country and explains much of the current bloody power struggle. This short sentence says that the country’s Armed...
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Potential implications of the power struggle in Sudan on Libya
General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan is fighting against his one time ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. The battle in Sudan is expanding daily and has so far reached most big cities in the country including the capital Khartoum. The events are not only catastrophic for Sudan but...
