Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Mustafa Fetouri
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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, according…
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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 out…
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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 pass,…
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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 as…
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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 concrete…
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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 Walid,…
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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 the…
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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 of…
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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 after…
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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 Palestinians…
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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 angered…
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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 of…
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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 the…
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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 he…
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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 a…
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Six obstacles on the road to Libya’s December elections
On 10 March, Libya’s new interim government, the Government of National Unity (GNU), won the parliamentary vote of confidence and was sworn in on 15 March. Its agenda is already set in the roadmap drawn up by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) last November. New Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh…
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Algeria is going to the polls in June: Is this victory for the Hirak Movement?
In a televised speech on 11 March, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune dissolved the lower house of parliament, the People’s National Assembly, triggering new legislative elections. However, he did not specify an election date. The country’s constitution dictates that polling must occur within three months after the national assembly is dissolved.…
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Remembering Operation Odyssey Dawn, ten years on
Operation Odyssey Dawn, launched on 19 March, 2011, was the code name for the US military intervention in Libya vaguely authorised by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1973. The assumption was that Libyan civilians were being killed, displaced and bombed by the Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi because they…
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Libya’s ceasefire: Hold your fire, but be ready to fire
On 23 October, Libya’s 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) agreed to a country-wide ceasefire which has been holding ever since, with the exception of little wars and episodes of violence in different parts of Libya. The commission comprises an equal number of military officers representing the main warring sides –…
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What awaits Libya’s novice prime minister-designate
Libya’s designated Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, in his first press conference on 25 February, did not name the expected cabinet line-up. Many, in Libya and abroad, eagerly awaited the unveiling of the Government of National Unity (GNU) after the novice politician was elected by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum…
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The United Nations and Libya: The habit of putting the cart before the horse
As the international body entrusted with world peace, security and conflict mediation worldwide, the United Nations (UN) has been involved in Libya’s internal conflict from the very start. This involvement came quickly – somewhat hastily and ill-advised from day one. Over the years, the UN became part of the conflict,…
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Some Libyans do not want democracy 10 years after NATO forced it upon them
Wednesday marked ten years since the start of the Libyan uprising against the government of Muammar Gaddafi. France’s military intervention was eventually ushered in before the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the strongest military alliance in history, took over. After seven months of around-the-clock air bombardment, Gaddafi’s government was toppled…