Tunisia: Fishermen prevent anti-migrant ship from docking

BBC News
Tunisia fishermen prevent far-right ship from docking

Sunday, 6 August 2017

Tunisian fishermen have prevented a ship carrying European far-right activists from docking, dealing a blow to their mission to disrupt the flow of migrant boats from Africa to Europe.

The C-Star, chartered by French-based group Génération identitaire (GI), was unable to berth in Zarzis.

GI says non-governmental organisations active in the Mediterranean collude with people traffickers.
But the Zarzis fishermen said the anti-migrant activists were racists.

They vowed not to let the C-Star refuel if it landed and the vessel is now expected to try another Tunisian port on Monday.

"It is the least we can do given what is happening out in the Mediterranean," Chamseddine Bourassine, head of the local fishermen's organisation, told AFP news agency. "Muslims and Africans are dying."

A port official who asked to remain anonymous said: "Us let in racists here? Never."

Meanwhile humanitarian groups say any attempt to turn migrant boats back to Libya could be very dangerous and illegal under international law.

About 600,000 migrants have been rescued from traffickers' boats and taken to Italy since the beginning of 2014.

More than 10,000 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean over the same period.
Earlier this month rights group Amnesty International accused the EU of mostly leaving it up to sea rescue charities to save migrants.

At the same time, NGOs have come under criticism from the Italian authorities, who have threatened to stop vessels of other countries from bringing migrants to Italian ports.

Italy's parliament has approved a plan to send naval boats to Libya as part of its efforts to stop migrants crossing the Mediterranean, and is asking NGO rescue ships to abide by a code of conduct.
 


*Photos courtesy of AFP/Getty Images

Sisi bombs Libyan militants not involved in Egypt attack

REUTERS

Is Egypt bombing the right militants in Libya?

May 31, 2017 

Ahmed Aboulenein and Giles Elgood

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was quick to launch air strikes on militants in Libya in response to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt - but the attacks do not seem to be targeting those responsible.

The response was popular with many Egyptians. The country's state-owned and private news media celebrated it as swift justice, but the president has been vague about exactly who he is attacking.

The strikes have been directed at Islamist groups other than Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for Friday's massacre of dozens in the southern province of Minya, and seem to be intended to shore up Sisi's allies in eastern Libya.

"The attacks in Minya were claimed by Islamic State, and there are Islamic State elements active in Libya, but the reports coming indicate Cairo is targeting other groups," said H.A. Hellyer, senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council.

In any case, analysts say the strikes will not do much against Islamists in Cairo, Sinai and Upper Egypt, where they have had a stronghold since the 1990s and have been attacking tourists, Copts and government officials.

Bombing the camps in Libya is seen as a diversion for a failure to defeat Islamists inside Egypt.

"It's easier to strike a terrorist camp in Libya by air than it is to clean up serious problems inside Egypt; sectarianism, radicalization, that led to this and other attacks," said Michele Dunne, director of Carnegie's Middle East program.

"All the horrific terrorism that is happening inside Egypt has purely domestic drivers and probably would be happening if Islamic State did not exist. It is not all that different from the home-grown terrorism Egypt experienced in the 1990s, before Al Qaeda or Islamic State even existed," she said.

 

Libyan Ally

Egyptian and Libyan officials said strikes had been launched on camps and ammunition stores belonging to the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC). Areas targeted include the western entrance to Derna, Dahr al-Hamar in the south, and al-Fatayeh, a hilly area about 20 km (12 miles) from the city.

Yet the DMSC has never been involved in attacks outside Libya and in fact mostly limits its activities to Derna, rarely fighting in larger conflicts within Libya, according to Mohamed Eljarh, an Atlantic Council political analyst in Libya.

The group has denied taking part in attacks inside Egypt.

In fact, many suggest the air strikes had been planned in advance to shore up support for Sisi's main Libyan ally, Khalifa Haftar and his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), and that the Minya massacre was used as a pretext to launch them.

Forces loyal to Haftar, a military strongman like Sisi, have long been fighting the DMSC, cutting off supply routes to the city and hitting it with occasional air strikes. Despite the LNA's siege, the military situation in Derna has been in stalemate for months.

Egypt has also carried out strikes in Jufra, where the LNA has been fighting Islamists who fled Benghazi as well as forces linked to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.

The LNA lost dozens of men there in a surprise attack on an air base earlier in May, but has since consolidated control.

The Minya attack was a catalyst for those inside the Egyptian government and military who are in favor of military intervention in Libya, said Mokhtar Awad, who researches extremism at George Washington University.

"This is Egypt taking action not because of the Minya attack but ... to drive out as many extremists as possible from the east," he said.

 

'They Are All Terrorists'

Egypt says it does not target specific groups but that it goes after all militants who could be a threat to its security. A military spokesman told state media on Monday that all the groups targeted have the same ideology as those who carried out the Minya massacre, which is reason enough to bomb them.

"Names are not important for us, they are all terrorists. Those who carried out the Minya operation do not necessarily have to be in these camps but their followers are," an Egyptian intelligence source told Reuters.

Eljarh also said it was likely the air strikes has been planned in advance and that the Minya attack was an opportunity to carry them out, as part of a larger policy towards supporting Haftar, with Egypt bombing groups that constitute the strongest opposition to him.

Egypt sees any militant activity in eastern Libya, which is near its border, as a threat to its national security. One of the reasons Sisi has supported Haftar since 2014 is to ensure that all Islamists are driven out of eastern Libya.

Sisi is getting more involved now because of improved relations with Washington, Eljarh said. He believes U.S President Donald Trump has given him the green light to fight jihadists in Libya and elsewhere.

When Sisi announced the first round of air strikes on television on Friday, he implored Trump to support him.

Trump, who has made a point of improving relations with Cairo, said his country stood with Sisi and the Egyptian people.

Egypt likely bombed wrong targets in Libya airstrikes - as a popular diversion

ANTI-WAR.COM

Egypt Is Likely Bombing the Wrong Targets in Libya Airstrikes Against Derna Are a Popular Diversion

 

May 31, 2017 

 
Jason Ditz

Last week, gunmen attacked a busload of Coptic Christians heading to a monastery in southern Egypt. ISIS was quick to claim credit for the strike, and by the end of the first day, Egypt’s military junta responded with a flurry of airstrikes against militant camps outside of Derna, Libya.

The attacks were popular domestically, so they did some more, and have continued throughout the week striking Derna’s camps, claiming they pose a direct threat to Egypt. Analysts, however, say this is really unlikely, and that indeed these camps almost certainly have nothing to do with the bus attack that preceded them.

Derna is well known as an Islamist hub, with a lot of small factions starting up there. Indeed, the ISIS affiliate in Libya was located there at one time, though that was years ago. If ISIS indeed did the bus attack, and signs are that they probably did, it was likely Egypt’s own ISIS affiliate, not Libya’s, and either way, they had nothing to do with the Derna camps being hit.

Egypt has had long-standing problems with Islamist militant groups attacking their Christian minority, and those attacks have almost exclusively been homegrown. Reacting by attacking something in Libya was a convenient distraction for the junta, and when the Egyptian public started cheering their firm response, they just kept doing it.

At this point, however, Egyptian officials are freely admitting that they are “not targeting specific groups” with their airstrikes in Derna, and that they’re hitting random camps on the assumption that “all the groups targeted have the same ideology” as the bus attackers, which is good enough for them.

Indeed some analysts believe that Egypt’s junta, long keen on exporting their style of government to Libya by backing Gen. Khalifa Hafter, had been drawing up plans for attacks around Derna and other Islamist hotbeds in eastern Libya long before the bus attack happened, and this just served as a useful pretext to go ahead with them.

Egyptian-led airstrikes in Libya kill 7 civilians, injure at least 20 others

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Libya/Egypt: Civilian Toll in Derna Air Strikes

Seven Dead, Dozens Injured; Libya and Egypt Need to Investigate

February 24, 2015

At least seven civilians, including three children, died in the joint Egyptian/Libyan airstrikes on the eastern city of Derna on February 16, 2015. Libya and Egypt should conduct speedy and transparent investigations into the deaths.

Indiscriminate attacks that cannot or do not distinguish between military targets and civilians or civilian infrastructure violate the laws of war. Serious violations of the laws of war, carried out with criminal intent, may be war crimes.

Egypt said on February 16 that it had carried out air strikes targeting extremist militants in Derna. This followed the mass killing of 21 Coptic Christians, including 20 Egyptians on February 15 by militants who pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS).

Libya’s army chief of staff issued a statement confirming its coordination with Egypt in conducting the Derna air strikes. Forces loyal to the internationally recognized government, based out of eastern Libya, are engaged in an armed conflict with militant groups, including groups that pledged allegiance to ISIS, in the eastern region.

“Egypt and Libya say they are fighting extremists affiliated with ISIS, but that doesn’t give them a free hand to kill civilians,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. “All parties to the conflicts in Libya need to do their utmost to spare civilians and should immediately investigate any civilian casualties.”

Human Rights Watch documented seven civilian deaths that appear to be a result of the airstrikes on Derna, and interviewed families of six of the victims by phone, all killed in their homes in the eastern city’s Al-Shiha neighborhood.

The dead included a mother, Rabiha al-Mansouri, and three of her four children, Afraa, Zakaria, and Huthaifa al-Karshoufi, who died when a missile hit their home. Others were Osama al-Shteiwi, a student who was watching from the roof of his home, who was hit by shrapnel; Attia Bousheiba al-Shaari, who died after the front of his house collapsed on him; and Hanan Faraj al-Drissi, who was on the roof of her home when a missile struck the street in front.

Residents told Human Rights Watch that the air strikes wounded at least 20 other civilians, some of whom were in intensive care at al-Hreish hospital.

Family members interviewed by Human Rights Watch said military plane over-flights and air strikes started at about 5 a.m., and many residents went onto their rooftops to observe them. All of the interviewees said that two missiles struck their neighborhood between 7 and 7:30 a.m. and that none of the homes that were hit were being used to store weapons or ammunition by local militiamen.

The head of Libya’s air force, which operates under the authority of Libya’s internationally recognized government based in eastern Libya, said in an interview that his forces had carried out “air strikes on houses in the city of Derna, which were the headquarters for ground launchers and weapons for the organization Daesh [ISIS],” and that the air strikes killed between 40 and 50 militants. He made no reference to civilian casualties.

Attacks targeting civilians or civilian property, and attacks that do not or cannot discriminate between civilians and fighters, are prohibited under the international laws governing the conduct of armed conflicts.

Attacks that are intended to punish civilians, including family members of a commander or fighter from an opposing faction, constitute collective punishment, which is also unlawful. Attacks that cause extensive and disproportionate destruction of property when carried out unlawfully and wantonly are also prohibited, Human Rights Watch said.

All parties to the conflicts in Libya, which now includes Egypt, are required to abide by the laws of war, which require them to take all feasible steps to protect civilians. Attacking parties are required by international law to take into account the risk to civilians that an attack would pose even if opposing forces are present and have situated military targets within or near populated areas.

Certain serious violations of the laws of war, when committed with criminal intent, are war crimes. Those who commit, order, assist, or have command responsibility for war crimes are subject to prosecution by domestic courts or the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed in Libya since February 15, 2011, under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970.

ICC investigations in Libya remain limited to cases from 2011 involving officials of the former Gaddafi government. Despite ongoing serious crimes that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya, the prosecutor of the ICC has not brought any additional cases and has not announced any new investigations. The prosecutor should examine reports of serious ongoing crimes in Libya, with a view to determining whether further investigations are warranted.

The UN Human Rights Council should establish an investigative mechanism or appoint a special rapporteur on Libya to investigate all serious and widespread human rights violations in Libya, which may constitute possible war crimes and crimes against humanity, with the view to ensuring that those responsible for serious crimes are held accountable.

In 2014 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2174, which threatens those responsible for serious crimes with sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, but the Security Council has yet to implement it effectively. The resolution also reiterated that individuals and groups were bound by an existing arms embargo, as stipulated in Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011.)

“Unless the Security Council acts quickly and decisively to hold those responsible for civilian deaths and injuries accountable and to reinforce the existing arms embargo, there is a risk that the situation will deteriorate further and result in many more civilian deaths,” Whitson said.

ARMED GROUPS

Several armed groups in eastern Libya publicly pledged allegiance to ISIS in November 2014, declared that they had established “Barqa Province,” and conducted public extrajudicial executions and floggings.

At least two other armed groups have claimed affiliation to ISIS in what they refer to as the Tripoli and Fezzan Provinces, respectively western Libya – including the capital, and southern Libya. These armed groups have claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the apparent mass killing of 21 Christian Copts near Sirte, and a January 27, 2015 attack on a luxury hotel in Tripoli that killed nine civilians.

On February 20, armed groups that claim to be affiliated to ISIS committed twin suicide attacks in the eastern town of al-Gubba, 40 kilometers from Derna, killing at least 44 people and injuring dozens more. A statement released by the “Barqa Province of IS” said the attacks were in retaliation for the Derna airstrikes.

The current armed conflicts, which began in May 2014 in eastern Libya and spread to the west two months later, has left the country with two rival governments: an internationally recognized government based in al-Bayda in the east, and a rival, self-proclaimed government in Tripoli that controls much of western Libya.

Both claim to be the legitimate government of all of Libya, but neither has been able to exert control nationally. Meanwhile, Libya’s institutions, particularly its judiciary, are at near-collapse, with courts and prosecutors in most cities no longer functioning because of direct targeting of judges and prosecutors by militants, and general insecurity.
 
EVIDENCE FROM WITNESSES AND FAMILY MEMBERS

Al-Karshoufi Family

Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with two members of the al-Kharshoufi family on February 18 and February 20, 2015. They said a rocket struck the family home on the morning of February 16, immediately killing Rabiha al-Mansouri and three of her four children – ages 2, 6, and 7. Al-Mansouri’s husband and their 8-year-old son survived. One relative told Human Rights Watch: “The house was nearly destroyed after one of the missiles landed straight on it at around 7 a.m. It’s a big four-story family home, and the ceiling, which is very heavy, landed where the mother and her four children were staying.”

Another relative told Human Rights Watch that the bombing almost totally destroyed 16 other houses in the same neighborhood and caused some damage to another 32 homes.

Al-Shteiwi Family

A brother of Osama al-Shteiwi, who spoke to Human Rights Watch by phone on February 20, said he saw Osama killed instantly when shrapnel hit his head as he was on the roof of their home trying to film the air strikes, which had begun at about 5a.m. He said Osama had returned to Libya from Turkey, where he was an engineering student, on February 2, when his scholarship funds ran out.

“My brother and I had been up since the early morning when we first heard over-flights of military airplanes and air strikes in the distance,” the brother said. “Just seconds before the missiles landed on our house, I shouted to my brother to come back indoors, but it was too late. Shrapnel hit him on the head and severed it from his body. He died instantly.”

Osama’s brother said he had not heard any anti-aircraft weapons fired from their neighborhood although “there was a lot of shooting that day, from all over the city,” including small arms fire from their neighborhood.

Human Rights Watch saw a copy of Osama’s burial certificate, which stated the cause of death and listed the injuries he had sustained.

Al-Shaari Family

The son of Attia Bousheiba al-Shaari, who was at the family home the day of the air strike, told Human Rights Watch in a call on February 20 that his father was in front of their house to warm up the car sometime between 7 and 7:30 a.m., waiting for one of his daughters, when a missile struck in front of the home.

“We had been hearing air strikes since the early morning in the city and we heard them coming closer, but our home is in a residential area, we never expected anything like this to happen,” the son said.

“I cannot begin to describe what it felt like when the missile struck. I ran out immediately after and saw that the front of our home had just fallen off. I then saw that my father was lying on the ground next to his car. He had injuries on his face and I specifically remember blood running out of his ear. I brought him to the hospital, but it was too late, he’d died immediately.”

The son said that he had not heard any shooting from their street before the air strike: “Our neighborhood is neutral. I do not know of anyone who stores weapons or ammunition. I find it very strange that our street was targeted specifically.”

Human Rights Watch was unable to contact family members of the other victim, Hanan al-Drissi, but spoke by phone to three of her neighbors, who said she died instantly when a rocket hit her home. One neighbor said that al-Drissi was on the roof at the time, and that one of her sisters, also at the house, was critically injured.

Armed Islamist group beheads 21 Egyptian Christians in video

BBC NEWS
Islamic State: Egyptian Christians held in Libya 'killed'

15 February 2015 

A video has emerged apparently showing the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) militants in Libya.

The footage shows a group wearing orange overalls being forced to the ground and then decapitated.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said Egypt reserves the right to respond in any way it sees fit.

The five-minute video shows hostages in orange jumpsuits being marched along a beach, each accompanied by a masked militant. The men are made to kneel before they are simultaneously beheaded.

Most were from a poor village in Upper Egypt where some relatives fainted on hearing the news. A caption accompanying the video made it clear the hostages were targeted because of their faith.

It referred to the victims as "people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church."

There's speculation here that Egypt may now consider airstrikes across the border. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said in the past that militants in Libya are a danger not just to Egypt, but also to the Middle East

IS militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which is in effect without a government.

However, with many armed groups operating in Libya, it is not clear how much power IS actually wields.


NATIONAL MOURNING

The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, now under the control of Islamist groups.

The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to IS. A caption made it clear the men were targeted because of their faith.

"Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals," President Sisi said.

The beheadings were described as "barbaric" by al-Azhar, the highly regarded theological institution which is based in Egypt.

The Coptic church said it was "confident" Egypt would exact retribution. Egypt has declared seven days of national mourning.

Libya has been in turmoil since 2011 and the overthrow of its then-leader, Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Since then, numerous other militia groups have battled for control.

The head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency warned last month that IS was assembling "a growing international footprint that includes ungoverned and under-governed areas", including Libya.

RIVAL GOVERNMENTS
 
Libya has two rival governments, one based in Tripoli, the other in Tobruk. Meanwhile, the eastern city of Benghazi, headquarters of the 2011 revolution, is largely in the hands of Islamist fighters, some with links to al-Qaeda.

On Sunday, Italy closed its embassy in Tripoli. Italy, the former colonial power, lies less than 500 miles (750km) from Libya at the shortest sea crossing point.

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has been calling for the UN to intervene in Libya. Thousands of migrants use the Libyan coast as a starting point to flee the violence and attempt to reach the EU.
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond condemned the beheadings.

"Such barbaric acts strengthen our determination to work with our partners to counter the expanding terrorist threat to Libya and the region," he said.

On Sunday, President Sisi banned all travel to Libya by Egyptian citizens.

Despite the turmoil in Libya, thousands of Egyptians go to the country looking for work.

There had been demonstrations in Egypt calling on the government to do more to secure the release of those held.


*Photo-still from video, courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Politicians threaten Ethiopia on Egypt's candid camera

Wall Street Journal

As Cameras Roll, Egyptian Politicians Threaten Ethiopia Over Dam Project

June 5, 2013  

As it struggles to replace lost tourism and foreign investment income, Egypt is facing another looming economic threat from a project taking shape hundreds of miles to the south.

Ethiopia’s move last week to begin construction work on a $4.2 billion hydroelectric dam project on the Blue Nile has sparked new worries about the effect on water supplies down river in both Egypt and Sudan, and the long-term threat to irrigation and electricity supplies.

A startling insight into Egypt’s alarm at the start of the dam construction was provided at a meeting hosted by Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi on Monday.

Prominent Egyptian politicians, unaware that the cameras were rolling, were filmed suggesting very undiplomatic ways to get Ethiopia to abandon the so-called Great Renaissance Dam project, up to and including the idea of sabotaging or attacking the dam.

Abu al-Ila Madi, a representative from the pro-Morsi Wasat party, suggested on camera that Egypt should discuss military action in order to push Ethiopia to the negotiating table.

In a similar vein, Ayman Nour, a prominent liberal politician, was broadcast saying that Egypt should spread rumors it plans to acquire new military aircraft to allow it to strike the dam. “This pressure, even if unrealistic, can yield results on the diplomatic track,” Mr. Nour told the gathering.

Other politicians suggested supporting Ethiopian rebel factions who could help Egypt sabotage the dam.
Though none of the politicans hailed from the government, the spectacle is likely to backfire on Egypt by reinforcing Ethiopia’s determination to proceed with the project, according to Hani Raslan, director of Sudan and Nile Basin unit at the state-run Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Egypt receives about 60% of its annual 55 billion cubic meters of river water from the Blue Nile, which the dam is expected to obstruct. According to Mr. Raslan, in the six years that it will take Ethiopia to fill the dam, Egypt is expected to lose up to 19 billion cubic meters of Nile water on an annual basis, causing hardship for millions of Egyptian farmers and their families.

On Monday, Egypt published the findings of an independent commission appointed to investigate the impact of the Ethiopian dam project. The commission’s 600-page report said that the country would suffer water shortages during flood season, and that electricity generated by the Aswan dam in Upper Egypt would fall sharply. It also criticized Ethiopia for failing to take into account the environmental and social impact of the dam project on Sudan and Egypt.  

Egypt is already suffering from water and power shortages, as it struggles to deal with the economic difficulties that followed the toppling of former autocrat Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

Egyptian authorities are currently in talks with Qatar, Libya and Iraq over supplies of oil and gas, needed to plug up an energy deficit at a time when recurrent power outages are hitting homes and businesses across the country.

Mr. Raslan estimated that energy supplies from the Aswan dam could be reduced by 25-40% once the new Ethiopian dam project is completed. At some point in the future, the lower supply of water could halt electricity generation altogether, he added.

President Morsi’s aide Pakinam El-Sharkawy apologized for failing to inform politicians that the talks with the president were being aired on live television.

 *Photo courtesy of European Pressphoto Agency

Religion & Outrage in Cairo

The Majalla

Religion and Outrage in Cairo

Wednesday, 12 Sep, 2012 

Alastair Beach

The death of the American ambassador to Libya following the Prophet Mohammed film controversy shines a spotlight on difficult questions of religious belief in Egypt.

Congratulations to Sam Bacile, the Israeli property developer who was reportedly behind the knuckle-headed video which last night appeared to lead to the deaths of five Americans, one of them the ambassador to Libya.

The film, which was also allegedly backed by a consortium of wealthy Jewish funders, depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a fraud.

Mr Bacile, who today appeared stubbornly unrepentant, obviously knows which buttons to push.

His decidedly ham-fisted effort also triggered angry protests outside the American embassy in Cairo last night.

Demonstrators climbed the walls of the Downtown compound, eventually replacing the Stars and Stripes with a black flag often used by fundamentalist Muslims.

Yet the demonstration, which at its rowdiest numbered just a few thousand, was relatively contained. Police officers managed to persuade protesters to get off the wall without resorting to their batons, and eventually the numbers fizzled out.

In Libya it appears things took an alarmingly violent turn. The US consulate in Benghazi came under fire from a mob carrying guns and rocket-propelled grenades, with the assailants intent on using the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to carry out their spectacular crime.

So back to Sam Bacile, a man whose moronic foray into religious critique has now secured him a position in history alongside the publishers of the infamous Danish cartoons, or murdered Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh.

But he is not the only one with questions to answer.

Why did the actions of one idiot compel a gang of outraged gunmen to murder five Americans in Libya?

Why couldn’t the thousands of Egyptian Salafis who marched on the US embassy last night not just dismiss Bacile for who he is – an ignoramus not worth a single drop of angry, tarmac-chant spittle?
Everyone else knows Bacile is a fool, so why turn him into the martyr he so clearly wants to be?

Yesterday’s events once again threw a spotlight onto the ever-present bugbear of religion in Egyptian political life.

Last week I was sat under the blazing strip-lights of Hurreya, the historical hangout of beer-sozzled intellectuals in Downtown Cairo.

With me were a group of six atheists, huddled like wanted fugitives into one corner of the bar. It was their weekly meeting – a chance to discuss Dawkins and Darwin away from the skeptical ears of family and friends.

“My parents would have a heart attack if they knew I was an atheist,” said one, when asked what his mother and father thought about his beliefs.

When one considers the anger and sheer disbelief which many Egyptians feel when their faith is questioned – a point underlined by events in Libya and Cairo’s US embassy – it is no wonder atheists feel they have to live hidden lives.

Women's rights on the back foot in Arab Spring

Agence France-Presse
Women on the back foot in the Arab Spring

March 6, 2012

Ines Bel Aiba

CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) -- They were on the front line during last year's Arab uprisings, but women now fear for their rights as Islamists reap the fruits of revolt, winning elections in Egypt and Tunisia and gaining influence in Libya.

In Tunisia, the dominant Islamist Ennahda Party has said it wants to fortify the personal status code, which bans polygamy and grants Tunisian women unparalleled rights in the region, by making it a basic law.

Changing such a law requires two thirds of the votes in parliament.

But recent debates in the constituent assembly on the mention of Sharia — Islamic law — in Tunisia's constitution have worried women and liberal parties who fear a decline in women's rights.

In Egypt, where Islamists dominated parliamentary and senate elections, female representation in parliament fell from 12 percent to just two percent, and a quota that gave women 64 seats was abandoned.

"Women are now confronting attempts to exclude them from public life, as well as acts of discrimination and violence, perpetrated with impunity by extremist groups and security forces," said a report by the International Federation for Human Rights.

In Tunisia, some teachers have been intimidated for not wearing the hijab, a head covering worn by devout women.

In Egypt, female protesters have been subjected to "virginity tests" by the ruling military, a practice calculated to humiliate them, according to Amnesty International.

Kuwaiti women's rights activist Ebtehal Al-Khatib said the rise of the Islamists in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolutions will "first and foremost negatively affect the role of women" in the Arab world.

"When religious groups rise to positions of power... the first to be affected negatively are women... her issues and concerns and rights will be the first thing to be shelved" as Islamist-oriented parliaments take hold in the Middle East, she said.

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party dominates parliament, says a woman cannot become president of the country.

"Any law that agrees with Sharia is welcome. Those that do not aren't," Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan told AFP.

In Libya, where Islamists are on the ascendancy after the toppling of long-time dictator Moammar Qaddafi, the country's leader sparked concerns with a statement on the importance of Islamic law.

The day he declared Libya liberated, the head of the National Transitional Council Mustafa Abdel Jalil said Sharia would be the main source of law and any law that violates Sharia would be null, mentioning marriage and divorce laws.

A first draft of the electoral law in Libya reserved 10 percent of seats in the constituent assembly for women, but that was later abandoned, much to the outrage of women's rights advocates.

"There is some fear of Islamist parties," said Ahlam Al-Haj of the centrist National Party.

In its report due to be released in full this month, the International Federation for Human Rights called on countries in the region to "enshrine in the constitution the principle of equality between men and women and the prohibition of all forms of discrimination against women."

In Egypt, women's rights also suffer because of their perceived association with president Hosni Mubarak's regime.

"The old regime appropriated the issue of women rights, using the National Council of Women, associated with [former first lady] Suzanne Mubarak," said Amina Elbendary, a women's rights activist and American University in Cairo professor.

As a result, legislative victories by the council have been attacked, although they were the achievements of a decades-long struggle by feminists, she said.

Elbendary said she feared that personal status laws, such as a law that allows women to divorce if they renounce their financial rights, would be reviewed.

Feminists also face another hindrance in the beliefs of more conservative women who argue that being granted "too many" rights contravenes religion and social norms.

"Any quota for women should not be more than 20 percent," said one woman at a women's workshop in the Libyan capital in January.

"Work cannot interfere with women's mission, which is first to raise children and take care of the home," she said.

Syria plants land mines along border with Lebanon

Associated Press
Syria puts land mines along border with Lebanon

Nov. 01, 2011


SERHANIYEH, Lebanon (AP) – Syria is planting land mines along parts of the country's border with Lebanon as refugees stream out of the country to escape the crackdown on anti-government protests, officials and witnesses said Tuesday.A Syrian man who stepped on a mine and had to have his foot amputated was the first known victim, according to a doctor at a hospital in Lebanon that treated him. He was wounded just across from the Lebanese village of Irsael on Sunday. The doctor asked that his name not be published for fear of repercussions by authorities.

The Syrian exodus to neighboring Lebanon and Turkey has proven a deep embarrassment for increasingly besieged President Bashar Assad, who warned over the weekend that the Middle East will burn if foreign powers try to intervene in his country's conflict.

A Syrian official familiar with government strategy claimed the anti-personnel mines are meant to prevent arms smuggling into Syria. The official spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Witnesses on the Lebanese side of the border also told the AP they have seen Syrian soldiers planting the mines in recent days in two parts of Syrian territory: in the restive province of Homs and across from Lebanon's eastern Baalbek region.

"Syria has undertaken many measures to control the borders, including planting mines," said the Syrian official.

More than 5,000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon since the crisis began in March.

The land mines are the latest sign of Syria's increasing isolation and just how deeply shaken the Assad regime has become since the uprising began nearly eight months ago. Assad, a 46-year-old eye doctor who trained in Britain, still has a firm grip on power, although the cost has been mighty: The U.N. says some 3,000 people have been killed by security forces.

Syria is a regional nexus, bordering five countries with which it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel's case, a fragile truce. Its web of alliances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy. Turkey, until recently an ally, has opened its borders to anti-Assad activists and breakaway military rebels.

The crackdown has eviscerated Assad's reputation, canceling out widespread hopes when he took power in 2000 that he might transform his late father's stagnant dictatorship into a modern state. Instead, Assad has reverted to the same tactics that have kept his family in power for more than 40 years, using fear and brute military force to try to break the popular revolt against his autocratic rule.

Three residents of the Lebanese border village of Serhaniyeh showed an AP reporter a long sand dune barrier along the frontier where they said Syrian troops laid mines. Ahmed Diab, 26, said several trucks carrying about a 100 soldiers arrived in the area on Thursday and spent the entire day planting mines on the side of the barriers that is toward Lebanon.

"Since they planted the mines, no one dares to go to the border line," said Diab, as he sat on his motorcycle near his home that overlooks parts of the Syrian province of Homs. Homs has seen some of the worst violence of the uprising.

Many Syrians cross the border into Lebanon regularly, some of them to flee the violence in their country. And the mines are the latest in a number of signs that Syria is working to prevent Lebanon from becoming a safe haven for the Syrian opposition.

There have been at least three cases this year of Syrian dissidents being snatched off the streets in Lebanon and spirited back across the border, Lebanese police say. The abductions have raised alarm among some in Lebanon that members of the country's security forces are helping Assad's regime in its crackdown on anti-government protesters, effectively extending it into Lebanon.

Syria had direct control over Lebanon for nearly 30 years before pulling out its troops in 2005 under local and international pressure. But Damascus still has great influence, and pro-Syrian factions led by the militant group Hezbollah dominate the government in Beirut.

There also have been reports of Syrian troops crossing into Lebanon to pursue dissidents. In September, the Lebanese army said in a statement that Syrian soldiers briefly crossed the border and opened fire at people trying to flee the violence in Syria.

A senior Lebanese security official confirmed that Syrian troops are planting mines on the Syrian side of the border, but said Beirut will not interfere with actions on Syrian territory.

"What concerns us are violations of Lebanese territory and Syrian troops' pursuit of people on the Lebanese side of the border," the official said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Syria and Lebanon share a 230-mile long border, although it appears the landmines have been planted in Homs province — where some of the worst violence of the uprising has occurred — just across the border from Serhaniyeh, Lebanon. Mines also have been planted in the Baalbek region, which borders Homs and the Damascus countryside, witnesses say.

The crackdown has prompted the most severe international condemnation the Assad dynasty has seen. Sanctions from the European Union and the U.S. are chipping away at the beleaguered economy and many leaders have called on him to step aside.

Assad has responded with vague promises of reform, but the opposition has dismissed the overtures as meaningless while the military fires on protesters. As the uprising has dragged on, Assad has become more defiant, exploiting fears at home and abroad of regional turmoil, sectarian violence and Islamic extremism.

In an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph published over the weekend, Assad warned world powers fresh from their victory over Moammar Gadhafi in Libya that the Middle East will go up in flames if there is any foreign intervention in his country.

Syria "is the fault line, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake," he said in his harshest words so far regarding the potential for foreign intervention. "Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?" he asked, alluding to the 10-year war that has bogged down tens of thousands of foreign forces.

But given that NATO and the U.S. have made abundantly clear they have no appetite for another military intervention in Syria, Assad does not have to worry too much about a Libya-style operation against his regime. Still, increased international focus on his bloody crackdown could bring more sanctions and isolation on a regime that is showing signs of increasing desperation.

*Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Libya: Liberation & questions over Gaddafi’s killing

Associated Press
Libya’s new leaders to declare liberation Sunday amid questions over Gadhafi’s killing

October 22, 2011


TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s new leaders will declare liberation on Sunday, officials said, a move that will start the clock for elections after months of bloodshed that culminated in the death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

But the victory has been clouded by questions over how Gadhafi was killed after images emerged showing he was found alive and taunted and beaten by his captors.

The long-awaited declaration of liberation will come more than two months after revolutionary forces swept into Tripoli and seized control of most of the oil-rich North African nation. It was stalled by fierce resistance by Gadhafi loyalists in his hometown of Sirte, Bani Walid and pockets in the South.

Sirte was the last to fall, but Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent and many of his fighters have apparently escaped, raising fears they could continue to make trouble.

With Gadhafi gone, however, the governing National Transitional Council was moving forward with efforts to transform the country that was ruled by one man for more than four decades into a democracy.

NTC officials had said the announcement would be made Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, the revolution’s birthplace. But spokesman Abdel-Rahman Busin said preparations were under way for a Sunday ceremony instead. He didn’t give an explanation for the delay.

The transitional leadership has said it would declare a new interim government within a month of liberation and hold elections for a constitutional assembly within eight months, then to organize parliamentary and presidential vote within a year after that.

On Saturday, acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, who has said he plans to resign after liberation, said the interim government “should last until the first presidential elections.”

Speaking at the World Economic Forum on the Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea, he also said the NTC must move quickly to disarm rebels who helped to overthrow Gadhafi’s nearly 42-year-old regime. He said it was a priority to ensure huge caches of weapons are turned in over the “next few days.”

Jibril also said the Libyan people must remember the agony of the past and choose a different path for the future. He said he was “relieved” after Gadhafi’s ouster, describing it as a “great moment in my life.”

Gadhafi’s blood-streaked body has been put on display in a commercial freezer at a shopping center in Misrata as Libyan authorities argued about where to bury the remains. Fighters from Misrata — a city brutally besieged by Gadhafi’s forces during the civil war — seemed to claim ownership of it, forcing the delay of a planned burial Friday.

Fathi Bashagha, a spokesman for the Misrata military council, said a decision will be made Saturday but he ruled out a full autopsy unless demanded by an international committee or the transitional government “and so far there have been no requests.”

At least four groups of doctors have examined the body and determined the cause of death was a bullet to the head and stomach, Bashagha said. “As far as we are concerned in Misrata, doctors have checked him and determined how he died, so there is no need to cut his body up,” he said.

The bloody siege of Misrata over the summer instilled a particularly virulent hatred of Gadhafi there — a hatred now mixed with pride because he was captured and killed by fighters from Libya’s third-largest city, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

Residents crowded into long lines to get a chance to view the body of Gadhafi, which was laid out on a mattress on the floor of an emptied-out vegetable and onions freezer. The body had apparently been stowed in the freezer in an attempt to keep it out of the public eye, but once the location was known, that intention was swept away in the overwhelming desire of residents to see the man they so deeply despised.

Men, women and children filed in to take their picture with the body, with some chanting “We want to see the dog.”

The site’s guards had even organized separate visiting hours for families and single men.

Gadhafi’s 69-year-old body was stripped to the waist, his torso and arms streaked with dried blood. Bullet wounds in the chest, abdomen and left side of the head were visible.

Gadhafi’s family, most of whom are in Algeria or other nearby African nations, issued a statement Friday calling for an investigation into how Gadhafi and another of his sons, Muatassim, were killed. In the statement on the pro-Gadhafi, Syria-based TV station Al-Rai, they asked for international pressure on the NTC to hand over the bodies of the two men to their tribe.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the images of his last moments were very disturbing.

“More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture,” Colville said.


*Associated Press writers Hadeel al-Shalchi in Cairo and Dale Gavlak in Southern Shuneh, Jordan, contributed to this report.

In Photos: The Revolutionaries of Benghazi

Libyan revolutionaries stand guard underneath anti-Qaddafi graffiti, outside the courthouse in Benghazi.


February 17 revolutionary forces in reclaimed station.


Revolutionary youth with Kalashnikov and victory sign.


Burnt cars in the Qaddafi Brigades HQs. 'Long Live Benghazi!'


Photos, posters and banners of thousands of revolutionary martyrs line the walls of the Supreme Court, and Horreya Square in Benghazi.


Libyan man pays his respects to the thousands of fallen revolutionaries.


Revolutionary youth back from the front-lines.


Officer leads military drills and exercises in Horreya Square.


Suleiman Basha. This kind and hospitable revolutionary drove us around Benghazi; he helped us find, reserve and pay for hotel rooms.


Young and old revolutionaries on main stage.


Young Libyan revolutionary stands on top of captured army tank.


Cute and tiny revolutionary does not seem happy with this assault rifle.

Revolutionary Street Art & Graffiti in Benghazi, Libya

Graffiti commemorating the Revolution of Feb. 17


Qaddafi with 'Green Book' shackles.


Qaddafi has "fucked" Libya and its people for 42 years.


Swastikas and Stars of David. Qaddafi and his sons attempt to flee Libya with sacks full of money.


Qaddafi gets the Libyan people's boot. Revolutionary graffiti on side reads "Human insecticide. Production date: September 1, 1969 (date of Qaddafi's military coup). Expiry date: February 17, 2011."


The Libyan people have spoken. Street art on (the destroyed) headquarters of Qaddafi Brigades, Benghazi


Don't fear the dictator!


Libyans express themselves freely after 42 years of censorship and dictatorship.


Street art by British solidarity activists.


Libyan street artists vent their anger towards Qaddafi and his dictatorial regime following 42 years of oppression.


Anti-Qaddafi graffiti on pillars.


Misspelled message to Qaddafi. You get the meaning.


Wanted: Dictator Mu'amar


Spray-painted image of Qaddafi on the wall of a building which has been converted into the "Tyrant's war-crimes museum."


Libyan victory sign painted on a store front.


Qaddafi's tail gets caught in the mousetrap.


bombs fall out of Qaddafi's afro, decorated with swastika.


Image of anti-colonialist freedom-fighter Omar al-Mokhtar. Qaddafi screaming at this historic revolutionary.


Graffiti on building quotes freedom fighter Omar al-Mokhtar: "We shall never surrender. We shall be victorious, or die."


Qaddafi "The Butcher" with serpent tongue coming out of his mouth.


Anarchy sign in Benghazi's media center. My foot on Qaddafi door mat.


Graffiti on garbage can reads: "Donations for Qaddafi."

Libya: Death toll mounts as fighting rages in Tripoli

Oman Observer
Fighting rages as death toll in Tripoli mounts

Fri, 26 August 2011


TRIPOLI — Libyan opposition fighters battled government troops across Tripoli yesterday and stifle any counter-attack.

Machinegun bursts and the crack of sniper fire kept the capital’s two million civilians pinned indoors, with supplies running low.

More than 20,000 people have been killled in the six-month unrest in the country, opposition leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil opined yesterday.

“I do not have the exact figure, but the armed conflict has resulted in more than 20,000 dead,” said Abdel Jalil, head of the Transitional National Council.
Asked about the possible presence of chemical weapons in the country, he said there was nothing to fear.

“I know very well that those weapons have expired,” he said.
Hundreds of opposition fighters launched an attack on a Tripoli hideout of government forces, an AFP TV reporter said.

More than 300 fighters armed with Kalashnikov, rocket launchers and assault rifles streamed into the Abu Salim district where they traded fire with troops and launched a house-to-house search.

“Today we are freeing Abu Salim,” and “Today we will conquer Abu Salim,” the dissidents yelled as they headed into battle. Dissidents said they arrested two government fighters, accusing one of them of being a sniper. One dissident tore down one of the many green flags raised in support of the regime in the low-income district renowned for its political prison.

Two days after the headquarters of Col Muammar Gaddafi in the capital was intruded, his forces still appear to control his tribal home city of Sirte on the coast and were reported to be fighting at Sabha in the south. Gaddafi broadcast a message on Wednesday calling on Libyans to fight back against the Nato-backed forces.

Opposition leaders, offering a million-dollar reward, say the war will be over only when Gaddafi is found, “dead or alive”.

The ex-international high representative in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, said there was a need for speed if Libya was to avoid a lingering threat from the predecessor, unlike what transpired in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq.

“The best time to capture these defeated leaders is immediately after the conflict finishes,” Ashdown said. “The longer it takes the more chance they have of being spirited away to a place which is much more difficult to find.”

With fighting raging in Tripoli, there was evidence of the kind of bitter bloodletting in recent days that the opposition leaders are anxious to stop in the interests of uniting Libyans, including former Gaddafi supporters, in a democracy.

A correspondent counted 30 bodies at a site in central Tripoli. At least two had their hands bound. One was strapped to a hospital trolley. All the bodies had been riddled with bullets.

Elsewhere, a British medical worker said she had counted 17 bodies.

The French magazine Paris Match quoted an intelligence source saying Libyan commandos found evidence that he had stayed at a safe house which they raided on Wednesday. Nato was helping the opposition with intelligence and reconnaissance, Britain said, and its jets kept up their bombing campaign overnight.

“There are areas of resistance which has had considerable levels of military expertise, still has stockpiles of weapons and still has the ability for command and control,” British Defence Minister Liam Fox told Sky News.

“They may take some time to completely eliminate and it is likely there will be some frustrating days ahead.”

Medical supplies, never especially plentiful, were dwindling to critical levels in many places where some of the hundreds of casualties from the fighting were being treated. Shooting in the street also kept medics away from work.

“The hospitals that I’ve been to have been full of wounded — gunshot wounded,” said Jonathan Whittall, head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) mission to Libya.

“In one health facility that I visited, they had converted some houses next to the clinic into an in-patient department ... But because of the shortage of staff, there was no nursing staff and the patients were essentially caring for themselves.”

More than 30 men have been killed at a military encampment in central Tripoli and at least two were bound with plastic handcuffs, indicating they had been executed.

A correspondent counted 30 bodies riddled with bullets in an area of the Libyan capital where there had been fighting between Gaddafi forces and rebels.

Five of the dead were at a field hospital nearby, with one in an ambulance. Some of the dead wore military uniforms while others wore civilian clothes. Some were African men; Two of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.

The incident took place at a traffic circle in an area of Tripoli that had been held by forces loyal to Gaddafi.

The encampment was littered with abandoned food, weapons boxes and the shells of wrecked vehicles. Blankets had been placed over the dead.

Elsewhere in the city, a British medical worker said a hospital had received the bodies of 17 civilians believed to have been killed in recent days.

“Yesterday a truck arrived at the hospital with 17 dead bodies,” Kirsty Campbell of the International Medical Corps said at Mitiga hospital.

Amnesty International said yesterday a delegation it had sent to Libya received reports of abuses by both sides in the conflict, including detaining and beating migrants suspected of being mercenaries.

*Photo courtesy of Reuters

Libyan Revolutionaries Capture Tripoli's Green Square

All Voices
Libyan Rebels Enter Tripoli's Green Square

22/08/11

TRIPOLI: Libyan rebels entered the capital Tripoli on Sunday with little sign of resistance from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in the Libyan leader's last remaining stronghold in the North African nation.

Libyan rebels waved opposition flags and shot into the air in jubilation after reaching Tripoli's central Green Square, live footage from the scene showed in the early hours of Monday.

The vast square, reserved until now for carefully orchestrated rallies praising Muammar Gaddafi, erupted in celebration after rebel troops pushed into the center of the Libyan capital overnight.

Following are reactions from analysts and political players to the fluid events unfolding in Libya following six months of fighting between rebels and Gaddafi's forces.

John Drake, Senior Risk Consultant, UK-based Consultancy Ake "Had the rebels marched into Tripoli in late February the situation would have been very different and the city may have fallen relatively quickly and easily.

"Now, after six months of fighting, the animosity between the two sides is likely to be a lot higher, so there is going to be a risk of violent retribution against those seen as having supported the regime over that time."

Ashour Shamis, Opposition Activist and Journalist, "The game is over for Gaddafi. There's bound to be some resistance here and there but his forces seem to be falling apart. He no longer directs his men.

"I think most Libyans want his men to peacefully surrender but if they resist they will have to be fought.

"If rebel forces capture people who are wanted by The Hague court, they will have to keep them safe until they are handed over to Libyan legal authorities.

"What then happens to those persons arrested, in terms of whether they end up at The Hague court, will I think depend in part on how they conduct themselves (in custody)."

According to Anthony Skinner, Middle East Analyst at Maplecroft, "it does look like it is coming to an end. But there are still plenty of questions. The most important is exactly what Gaddafi does now. Does he flee or can he fight? In the slightly longer term, what happens next? We know there have been some serious divisions between the rebel movement and we don't know yet if they will be able to form a cohesive front is to run the country.

"Looking further afield, it is obviously going to be very uncomfortable viewing for Assad in Syria. Obviously they are very different cases, particularly because of the outside military involvement in Libya. But it's another sign that when you use brutal force against protesters, you lose legitimacy. It just inflames the situation and at the end of the day we have seen another regional leader forced from power.