Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Mustafa Fetouri is a Libyan academic and freelance journalist. He is a recipient of the EU’s Freedom of the Press prize.
Items by Dr Mustafa Fetouri
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- July 14, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Why would Arabs want democracy if it means unemployment, poverty, insecurity and corruption?
A recent study by Princeton University’s Arab Barometer network finds that the majority of Arabs believe democracy, as a system of government, has failed to meet their expectations, leading many to think it is not the right formula for their social ills. The study, in which 23,000 individuals across...
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- July 7, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Is Iraq’s notorious ‘oil for food program’ to be repeated in Libya?
The United States Ambassador to Tripoli, Richard Norland, who is also his country’s Envoy to Libya, has been openly pushing forward a plan to deny the Libyan State the freedom of using the oil revenues in accordance with Libyan sovereignty over its resource. Oil makes roughly 98 per cent...
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- June 30, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Algeria at 60: reflecting on history is good, but looking forward is better
This 5 July marks 60 years since Algeria got its independence from France, after an occupation that lasted over 13 decades, from 1830 until 1962, only to end with the French being defeated in a brutal liberation battle. When the Evian Accords were signed on 18 March 1962, in...
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- June 23, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Why do Libyans keep failing to settle their differences?
In a statement issued in the earlier hours of 20 June, Stephanie Williams, the United Nations Special Advisor on Libya, drew the curtain on the Cairo talks between Libyan rivals as they failed to reach an agreement on the constitutional framework for any future elections. The statement said “differences...
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- June 16, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Why do Arab ‘normalisers’ never seek their people’s approval of ties with Israel?
What is behind the sudden rush by four Arab states to normalise relations with Israel after decades of animosity, and what do countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan hope to achieve from embracing the Zionist state? Indeed, what are Israel’s immediate and long-term objectives in...
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- June 9, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
The PLO at 58 and the ANC at 110: how they evolved and where do they stand today?
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) is 58 years old this June, while the African National Congress (ANC) celebrated its 110th birthday last January. They are two of the longest liberation movements so far. They are as comparable as apartheid South Africa is comparable to its once close friend, Israel—who...
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- June 2, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Is Kais Saied’s incremental power grab failing to impress Tunisians?
President Kais Saied of Tunisia is still going, sometimes with an apparent strength, despite all the rejections and disdain he has received lately from different political quarters inside the country. His planned next step is to have Tunisians go to the polls for a referendum on a new constitution....
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- May 26, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Your Majesty: Say sorry to mark your Platinum Jubilee and help end that poisonous history
The British Empire once ruled over a quarter of the world’s population, from North America to India and from interior Africa to the Middle East. This June, the UK is lavishly celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years since she ascended the throne in 1952, after her...
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- May 18, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Libya in the prism of US’s Global Fragility Act
In the shadows of the war in Ukraine the Biden-Harris administration has released what amounts to a policy – but less than a detailed strategy – paper aimed at interrupting “potential pathways to conflict” around the world to keep such conflicts and their consequences from reaching the United States’...
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- May 12, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
The colonial lie celebrating 74 years of forgery and land theft
The European colonisation rush of conquering other peoples across the world had its own narrative and justifications to make its case for itself, and for its own public opinion in explaining otherwise unexplainable sins of occupation. It had to make sense, too. Major former colonial powers like France, Great...
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- May 5, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
An anatomy of chaos in State destruction
According to the United Nations roadmap adopted in November 2020, Libyans should have cast their votes to elect a legislative and president on 24 December, 2021, but that did not happen. As a measure of precaution the roadmap mandated another attempt to be made no later than 23 June...
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- April 28, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
What is behind Libya’s recent crackdown on human rights and activists?
Over the last few months, Libya’s Internal Security Agency (ISA) has rounded up seven young Libyans, accusing them of very serious crimes including that of apostasy, contempt of Islam and spreading of atheism. Such accusations in the predominantly Muslim and overwhelmingly conservative country could be a death sentence, even...
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- April 21, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
As France votes for president, its Algerian legacy lurks in the background
Whether France is voting, commemorating D-day or debating French identity in terms of Republic Values, Algeria is always present in some way. It is almost impossible to discuss anything of substance in France in which Algeria does not feature and, sometimes, dominates the debate. After all, Algeria was not...
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- April 14, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
NATO’s expansion strategy is helping to destroy de facto member Ukraine
NATO as an organisation and through its thirty individual members has been doing its utmost to help Ukraine against Russia’s invasion ever since Moscow launched its attack in February. Even before the war started, some NATO members were offering Kyiv all kinds of assistance, including what many western officials...
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- April 7, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
For how long can Saudi Arabia remain the virtual signatory of the Abraham Accords?
It is inconceivable that last week’s Negev Summit could have taken place without Saudi Arabia not only knowing about the meeting but also blessing it. Since the Abraham Accords were signed, in the name of peace between Arabs and Israel, Saudi Arabia has been the silent party and the...
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- March 31, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
A war, two prime ministers and two roadmaps clearly not enough to end Libya’s long transition
The current political impasse in Libya is unlikely to be solved over the next two months. By June, it is likely to become even more complicated because the United Nations’ sponsored roadmap that brought in Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh as Prime Minister will expire then. This has the potential to...
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- March 23, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Some Africans have good reasons not to condemn Russia over Ukraine
On 2 March, 141 UN member states voted to “condemn” Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, calling it a serious violation of the UN Charter. Thirty-five countries abstained or did not vote at all, among them seventeen African nations, which is another indication of increasing Russian influence in the...
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- March 17, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
The Iron Lady is not giving up on Libya just yet
Over the last two weeks, the United Nations Special Advisor on Libya, Stephanie Williams, has been under sustained attacks across social media. Williams, who returned to Libya last December, is neither impressed nor responding. The current stalemate is, as usual, the outcome of disagreements between Libya’s House of Representatives (HoR)...
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- March 10, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Why does Libya’s incoming government have only two female ministers?
On 1 March, Libya’s Tobruk-based Parliament voted in a new cabinet led by former Interior Minister, Fathi Bashaga, and its 29 ministers, six State Ministers and three Deputy Prime Ministers have all taken their constitutional oath. However it is unclear if, and when, the new government will take office...
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- March 3, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Libyans are angry over their Foreign Minister condemning Russia
Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, going on for over a week now, has been condemned across the world. However, there are countries that had to walk a very fine line in deciding their reactions and contextualising them. It goes without saying that a country like Syria, for example,...
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- February 24, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Is Mali leading the long-overdue anti-France African revolt?
Late last January, French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said that Mali’s new authorities was “illegitimate and takes irresponsible measures” describing the military government in Bamako as “out of control.” By 1 February, Mali declared French Ambassador, Joel Meyer, persona non grata, giving him 72 hours to leave the...
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- February 17, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
After the African Union revoked Israeli’s observer status, it is time for more work
African Heads of States and governments meeting at the African Union’s Summit (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 5 February decided to revoke Israel’s observer status to the continental bloc. The decision came after hard lobbying by many countries, led by Algeria and South Africa and supported by Libya,...
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- February 10, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
‘I will leave no stone unturned’, vows UN Advisor after returning to Libya
The reappointment, earlier last December, of Stephanie Williams as Special Advisor on Libya to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, came at a critical moment for the political process in Libya. The election date of 24 December was fast approaching, while everything on the ground was pointing to the...
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- February 3, 2022 Dr Mustafa Fetouri
Replacing Libya’s corrupt Prime Minister could be a risky business
On Monday, 1 February, Libya’s Tobruk based parliament started accepting nominations for the post of Prime Minister to replace the current caretaker premier, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, in what is seen as a sign of deepening divisions in the country. Dbeibeh was first elected to the job by a United...