Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Mustafa Fetouri
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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...
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Libya’s human rights situation is worse than what it was under Gaddafi
Back in 2011, when the West decided to topple their long-time foe, the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, it needed pretext to intervene militarily in an independent, sovereign and United Nations member, Libya. Instead of one excuse, Washington, Paris, London and other capitals fabricated several reasons to justify their invasion...
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America's new Libya strategy: is it about Libya or about kicking Russia out of Libya?
Last May, three months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Biden-Harris Administration released what it called “Global Fragility Act”: a policy paper aimed at ending conflicts around the globe or, at least, containing their aftermaths away from the United States. Libya featured high in that document, not only as an example...
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Land for peace initiatives are non-starters for Israel
Israel has burnt every olive branch offered by the Palestinians, starting with the late Yasser Arafat’s famous 1974 speech at the UN when he told the occupation state, “I came with the olive branch in one hand and the freedom fighter’s gun in the other. Do not let the...
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Can Cairo torpedo the UN’s plans in Libya despite its rapprochement with foe Ankara?
Egypt warmly welcomed Turkiye’s Foreign Minister for the first time in a decade that saw relations between the two countries soured over, mainly, what Ankara saw as a “coup” that deposed its Muslim Brotherhood ally, the late President Mohammed Morsi. Mr. Cavusoglu’s visit to Cairo came after his boss,...
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Libya has a water problem despite its abundance of ‘black gold’
Libya is one of the driest countries in the Middle East-North Africa region, which is itself home to eleven of the fifteen driest countries in the world. The average annual rainfall in Libya is less than 26mm, with rain mainly in the winter months, and occasionally in early spring,...
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Will a sudden agreement in Libya mean elections this year?
The aim of the UN mission in Libya has always been to help the country reach the end of the transitional period which has been in progress since the 2011 civil war ended. Each UN envoy tried in his or her own way to reach that goal through complicated...
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Libyans still insist on simultaneous presidential and legislative elections
The latest meeting of ambassadors of the countries with stakes in Libya, sometimes known as the Libya Contact Group, ended with a call for both presidential and legislative elections in the country this year and support for UN envoy Abdoulaye Bathily. The meeting in Washington on 23 February was...
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Why are foreign ‘bogeymen’ allowed to hamper Libya’s progress 12 years after the revolution?
It is 12 years since the so-called Arab Spring visited Libya and ended the late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s government, plunging the country into chaos, violence and civil war. The promise back in 2011 was that Libya would become a flourishing oasis of stability, peace and democracy on the southern...
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Netanyahu’s six lies in one interview
In his first major international interview since returning to power, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to CNN earlier this month. He demonstrated that he is still a prolific liar misleading the public very deliberately about various policy issues. One thing stood out throughout the entire interview: Netanyahu is still...
