Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Mustafa Fetouri
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How two leaders, decades apart, envisioned the African Union
Last week marked 22 years since the African Union (AU) replaced the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which was created in 1963 with only 32 members. The other 22 countries in Africa were, at the time, still to gain independence from Britain, France, Portugal and Spain. South Africa was...
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Is Tunisia’s president putting the cart before the horse?
Less than a month after Tunisia’s President Kais Saied had assumed sweeping executive powers, dismissed the government, suspended parliament and lifted the immunity of its members, and took over the office of public prosecutor, his Twitter account announced on 24 August that he was extending his emergency measures indefinitely....
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After Afghanistan, US allies must feel a sense of abandonment
Do any of America’s allies still trust its commitment to them? After the withdrawal from Afghanistan, they must feel a sense of abandonment by the US. Critics point out that what happened in Afghanistan was decided by Washington without even consulting its allies. The former Afghan government of President Ashraf...
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Are the people of Libya ready to decide their future?
Almost all political and social debates about Libya nowadays are centred on the presidential and legislative elections scheduled to be held on 24 December. Ever since the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) agreed the date, the issue has dominated the lives of ordinary Libyans. There is an overwhelming demand that...
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What is Haftar up to in Libya?
What, I wonder, is Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar up to in Libya? The simple answer to that complex question is that he still wants to rule the country. The next question is: how he is going to do it? Over the past seven years Haftar has tried the armed route...
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Israel should be expelled from the African Union
Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairman of the Commission of the African Union (AU), quietly and unceremoniously granted Israel observer status within the organisation on 22 July. The move surprised and shocked many AU member states who viewed it as a serious violation of the organisation’s charter and founding principles....
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The fight over Tunisia’s identity is at the heart of the current crisis
When Tunisia’s President Kais Saied took over executive powers on 25 July, the former constitutional law professor justified his action by pointing out the failure of successive governments due to political bickering that has paralysed the country. A parliament divided since it was elected in 2019 made it impossible...
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Blaming Ennahda for Tunisia’s problems is misleading and won't solve the crisis
Tunisia’s President Kais Saied surprised everybody, inside the country and outside, by his announcement on Sunday to suspend the parliament, annul MPs immunity, dismiss the prime minister and take a “supervisory” role over the public prosecution service. In doing so he cited Article 80 of the country’s constitution which,...
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The curse of the Oslo Accords that made the PLO a guard on mayoral duties
“I wish I could wake up one day and find that Gaza has sunk into the sea.” That quote is attributed to Israel’s late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He is reported to have expressed that wish in 1992, as the First Palestinian Intifada neared its end. Hamas was born...
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Gaddafi’s finances may save Libya’s new budget
For the fifth time in three months, Libya’s parliament failed to approve the national budget halting the plans of the Government of National Unity (GNU). In a statement on the parliament’s website spokesperson Abdullah Blehaq said “some members of parliament rejected” voting on the budget. For the bill to...
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What is next for Libya after the failure of the Geneva dialogue?
On 2 July, the UN-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) ended four days of talks in Geneva but failed to reach agreement on the task at hand: agreeing a constitutional basis for the proposed presidential and legislative elections on 24 December. The marathon session of the 75-strong group, acting...
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Foreign troops are not leaving Libya despite Berlin II pledges
The International Berlin Conference on Libya — Berlin II — concluded last week with a rather short communiqué. It predecessor, the January 2020 Berlin I conference, ended with 66 recommendations, most of which were embedded in UN Security Council Resolution 2510. This time there is neither a resolution nor...
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A prime minister’s visit, a court ruling and the possibility of another Gaddafi for Libya
Last month, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh visited Bani Walid, south-west of Tripoli. He toured the mountainous town, visited some government institutions and met with local officials and civil society leaders. The visit was the first of its kind by a prime minister, and marked a new government approach to Bani...
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What can we expect from the Berlin II international conference on Libya?
Germany is preparing to host the second Berlin conference on Libya on 23 June in cooperation with the UN Mission in the North African country. The first conference was convened in January last year. Since then, Libya has seen a number of positive political and military developments. In terms of...
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Israel is impeding America’s role as a world leader
Over the past five decades, the US has used its veto in the UN Security Council on 52 occasions to protect Israel from even being censored or reproached let alone threatened with sanctions. Throughout those years Israel, as an occupier of Palestinian land, has committed every imaginable atrocity against...
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Will Libya’s first female foreign minister be forced out of her job?
Could Libya’s first female foreign minister be forced out of her job, or will she survive the barrage of verbal abuse, criticism, incitement and political attacks? Although the attacks have subsided over the past couple of weeks, Najla Al-Mangoush must be preoccupied with the issue, particularly after a group...
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In conversation with Stephanie Williams, the US diplomat helping Libya come together
Stephanie Williams joined the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) two years ago as deputy to the then mission head Ghassan Salame. In March last year she took centre stage as the acting UN envoy to Libya after Salame resigned for health reasons. She left in February, but only...
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The agony of Palestinian dispossession
What basically led to the latest Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip is very simple: the ongoing Israeli policy to grab as much land in Palestine as possible; it’s a decades-old policy that has been unstoppable. This policy is a tool for Israeli expansionism, which produces more displaced...
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How improved Ankara-Cairo ties reflect positively on Tripoli
Cairo and Ankara have been on opposite sides for much of the last eight years. Ankara saw the rise of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to power in 2013 and the imprisonment of its ally, former President Mohamed Morsi, as a blatant coup against the democratically-elected president in Egypt. An...
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We’ve been here before with foreign troops in Libya
The then United Nations acting envoy to Libya, Stephanie Williams, said on 2 December last year that there are 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries in Libya. She described the matter as a “serious crisis” before concluding that it is “a shocking violation of Libyan sovereignty” and a blatant “violation...
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What is behind the thaw in relations between Libya and the EU?
Over the past three weeks many European Union officials have queued up in the capital of Libya, Tripoli, to offer their support to the country’s newly-elected interim authority, the Government of National Unity (GNU), and Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh. They also sought to influence the new authority over...
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Can Libya’s new authority succeed in cutting Haftar’s foreign links?
Self-styled Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar is a serious hurdle facing the Government of National Unity (GNU). He could prove to be a more complex issue than initially expected, taking time and patience to resolve. It is misleading to assume that dealing with Haftar is an easy political-military issue. How...
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Remembering the Deir Yassin massacre 73 years later
Deir Yassin is a Palestinian village situated on a hilltop, a short distance from the west of Jerusalem. If you try to find it on a map today, you will be disappointed, as the village has been completely razed to the ground. In its place, in 1951, the newly-created State...
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Is France honest in embracing Libya’s new government?
On 29 March, the French Embassy in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, was reopened after seven years of closure. The new embassy relocated from the upscale Al-Andalus neighbourhood, west of Tripoli, to a new building near the city centre, where security is relatively better. The old building was attacked by...
