Libya welcomes UN decision to deploy cease-fire monitors
"Turkey and Russia Put Off Talks Expected to Tackle Libya and Syria "With Haftar in retreat, France hedges its bets in Libya "Foreign jets used in Libyan refugee centre airstrike, says UN "Libya Isn’t Hillary’s Fault, Says Libyan""""
Libya’s transitional government has welcomed a U.N. Security Council decision to deploy international monitors to watch over a nearly six-month-old cease-fire in the conflict-stricken country
By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press 18 April 2021, 04:46
CAIRO -- Libya’s transitional government on Saturday welcomed a U.N. Security Council decision to deploy international monitors to watch over a nearly six-month-old cease-fire in the conflict-stricken country.
The Government of National Unity also urged the council to help get mercenaries out of the oil-rich country, as it heads toward December elections after a decade of fighting and upheaval.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ recent proposal for up to 60 monitors to join an existing political mission in Libya.
The monitors would arrive in an “incremental deployment ... once conditions allow,” according to the council’s British-drafted resolution. The council also urges all foreign forces and mercenaries to get out of the country, as was supposed to happen months ago.
The vote, announced on Friday, was conducted by email, due to the coronavirus pandemic; the results were announced at a brief virtual meeting.
The interim government, which took power last month, expressed its willingness to facilitate the work of the U.N. monitors.
It also said it would would provide “all financial and logistic” capabilities to the country’s elections authority to hold a “fair and transparent” vote on Dec. 24.
Libya has been plagued by corruption and turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. In recent years, the country was split between a U.N.-supported government in the capital, Tripoli, and rival authorities based in the country’s east.
Each side was backed by armed groups and foreign governments. The U.N. estimated in December there were at least 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries in Libya, including Syrians, Russians, Sudanese and Chadians.
In April 2019, east-based military commander Khalifa Hifter and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli. His 14-month-long campaign collapsed after Turkey and Qatar stepped up their military support of the U.N.-backed government with hundreds of troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries.
--- INSERT: Haftar(Hifter) and 300 of his men were granted US refugee status in 1990. He's had CIA backing for years. Also apparently seen by Russia as the best chance to stop extremism (that would be Islamic extremism) in Libya. However some have other opinions of Haftar's methods and motives. See from Wikipedia - On 5 November 2017, a former commander in the ranks of Operation Dignity and its former spokesperson, Mohammed Hijazi, described Khalifa Haftar as being "the main cause of the crisis that is crippling the country."[79] Having left Operation Dignity in January 2016 citing corrupt leadership, Hijazi has since spoken out against Haftar, calling him a "tyrant" and describing "his killings, kidnappings, destruction, and forced disappearances."[80] As a former commander and spokesman for the Operation, Mohammed Hijazi claims to have knowledge that Haftar is deliberately delaying the war, specifically in Benghazi. Hijazi concluded the recent interview by stating that his life is in great danger "especially as he is in possession of formal documents that could damage Dignity Operation forces and their leaders."[79] .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalifa_Haftar#Leading_role_in_the_Second_Libyan_Civil_War - ---
The cease-fire agreement, reached in October, called for the foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave within three months. No progress was made in that regard.
The cease-fire deal has dramatically reduced civilian casualties, but the U.N. has continued to document killings, forced disappearances, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, hate crimes and attacks against activists and human rights defenders in Libya, U.N. special envoy Jan Kubis told the council last month.
“I saw killing and massacres because of the conflicts between Tuaregs and the Tebu [ethnic minorities],” he says.
Targi is a Tuareg from the desert city of Ubari in Libya’s south-west. Under Muammar Gaddafi, Tuareg people were marginalised – not issued government IDs, and restricted from getting work and public services. Things didn’t improve after the dictator was ousted.
In October 2019, Targi left home, travelling more than 600 miles (1,000km) to the coastal city of Zuwara. From there, he and about 200 other people, mainly Syrians, Moroccans and Sudanese, crammed themselves on board an overloaded wooden boat, and set off on a dangerous 18-hour journey.
Migrants from Eritrea, Egypt, Syria and Sudan wait to be assisted by the Spanish NGO Open Arms after fleeing Libya last month. Photograph: Joan Mateu/AP
IMAGE - The central Mediterranean migration route often starts in Libya
A weak economy further crippled by the coronavirus pandemic is helping to fuel the exodus.
“The pandemic has made the economy suffer, and has led to a reduction of oil and gas exports. There is also difficulty for Libyans to cash out their pensions, and there’s a huge rise in unemployment among youth,” says Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR’s special envoy for the western and central Mediterranean.
Border closures and limited movements because of Covid-19 lockdowns have affected people’s ability to earn, he says. “They depended on border trade and smuggling things like cigarettes and fuel to get by.”
Cochetel predicts a continued rise in Libyans leaving the country in 2021, unless the economy improves. “Libyans tend to stay in their country, even as displaced persons, or seek help from relatives in Tunisia or in Egypt,” he says. “But the socioeconomic impact of the recent devaluation of the Libyan dinar must be monitored.”
Corruption and security fears are also becoming push factors for Libyans.
Al-musher market in Tripoli, where security fears are rising. Photograph: Nada Harib/Getty
Mousa Algunaidi, of the Nedaa Organization for Human Rights and Community Development, in Misrata, says corruption inside the various state apparatuses in Libya – divided between two rival governments based in Tripoli and Benghazi – imperils basic services such as electricity supply, and has eroded Libyans’ trust in the state.
He adds: “There are a lot of security fears for Libyans in cities like Tripoli, Sirt and cities of the south like Murzuq. Additionally, there are rapidly rising prices and inflation, with banks and the finance ministry limiting cash withdrawals to between 500 and 1,000 Libyan dinars [£280–£560].” Advertisement
"If there's a new conflict like we saw in 2014, the shores will be full of Libyans Mousa Algunaidi
“If there’s a full political agreement and elections and the creation of a new constitution, the peace agreement will benefit us. This would definitely decrease the number of Libyans leaving by sea. It could even stop emigration completely. But if there’s a new conflict like what we saw in 2019, we’ll see the shores full of Libyans,” he says.
After hours at sea, an Italian coastguard vessel picked up Targi’s boat and he finally reached Italy. “There was nothing harder than this trip. The boat was old. We were overloaded, at sea for two days. The motor was weak. If the coastguard didn’t find us, we would have died,” he says.
After being smuggled into France, Targi took a train to Belgium, where he stowed away on a truck to the UK. He made it across the Channel, and settled in London, where he now studies science at college.
Sherif Targi with his class notes. He started learning English when he arrived in London less than a year ago and is now fluent. Photograph: Santiago González
Friends back in Ubari say the city has gone from bad to worse. Targi’s childhood friend, Mahmoud Twareg*, says it remains a place of stifled opportunity, and danger.
I don't expect life to improve in Ubari. So I won't be going back any time soon Mahmoud Twareg
“The schools are in bad shape without enough teachers. Hospitals lack enough staff and functioning equipment,” says Twareg. “Security is lacking. There are armed groups and gangs everywhere.
“The peace agreement is not improving things at all in Ubari. Nothing has changed. The forces of [warlord general Khalifa] Haftar have even come back.”
Targi believes that even if the deal holds elsewhere in Libya, and the country puts war behind it, his life will remain far away from home. “I want to finish my studies. I don’t expect life to improve in Ubari. So I won’t be going back anytime soon.”
Mali’s President Exits After Being Arrested in Military Coup "Civilian deaths and atrocities escalate as chaos builds in Sahel "Esper says ‘no decisions’ have been finalized on AFRICOM changes "AFRICOM: Wrong for Liberia, Disastrous for Africa""" https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=157776981
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
