Libya Index

The FBI has identified five men it believes were involved in last year’s delicate attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

Washington has not officially asked the Libyan government to be acquainted the men, but Al Jazeera has learned that US officials have tried to get powerful armed groups to co-operate.

The US initially said that the violence was in rush to a video prescient online that was insulting to Islam, however recent evidence suggests it was a planned attack. 

The attack left four Americans dead including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who died from smoke inhalation.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reporting from Benghazi said that the FBI had released photos of the suspects earlier this month, captured by security cameras during the attack.

When our correspondent spoke to a commander of the Libyan Sheild Brigade in Benghazi, he said there is confusion as to whether the violence started after the protesters came under fire from inside the consulate.

“They need to give us evidence. Then we can capture them,” Adel Belgaid said. “But we will channel out our own investigation and they would face trial here. And if US uses ground troops to capture them, this would violate our sovereignty and it will be confronted.” 

Another member of a different brigade told our correspondent that the US should have heeded his warnings three days before the attack about the deteriorating security.

Unilateral action

In an interview with Al Jazeera, David Mack, former ambassador to Libya, said that Libya is facing a situation of turmoil in which various groups are contesting for power.

“The government faces some serpentine constraints in maintaining order,” he said. “We want to help that but we must insist that the perpetrators of this crime be brought to justice.”

Mack added that it was too premature to talk about the US going into Libya unilaterally. He said the important task right was to reassert the Libyan presence in terms of security and it is up to the Libyans to decide whether their justice system is up to dealing with the suspects.

Washington no longer has an official presence in Benghazi. But recently, a confirmation hearing of Stevens’ successor, Ambassaor Deborah Jones, was high in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The appointment has yet to be endorsed by the full Senate.

431

Article source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/05/2013524163244498132.html

(Reuters) The 110-member EU civilian team, expected to start deploying in Libya next month, will advise and train Libyan officials on how to strengthen the security of the country’s land, sea and air borders, an EU statement said.

The Tripoli government has been beset by internal rifts and security remains a material concern inclination after a revolt and a NATO bombing campaign led to the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

One of the triggers of the crisis in Mali in West Africa was the return from Libya of heavily armed fighters once in the pay of Gaddafi, regional security experts say.

These gunmen and the wide availability of arms during the Libyan conflict inflated the ranks of separatist and Islamist groups who launched attacks on Mali’s army in early 2012.

Now, following France’s military intervention in Mali, there is concern that militants are moving in the opposite direction.

Niger’s foreign minister urged material powers in an interview with Reuters this month to act against Islamist militants who had found shelter in Libya’s vast southern desert and, he said, posed a growing threat to neighboring countries.

Mohamed Bazoum said Niger had information that Islamists who had been driven out of northern Mali were site up bases in Libya’s lawless south, which borders Niger.

The Libyan government has also said it is worried about an influx of al Qaeda-linked fighters from Mali.

Comments are closed.

Article source: http://libya.tv/en/eu-approves-sending-border-security-advisers-to-libya/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eu-approves-sending-border-security-advisers-to-libya

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has nominated Mohamed Khalifa Sheikh to replace Ashour Shuail as the new interior minister. 

Shuail served as police chief in the eastern city of Benghazi under Gaddafi therefore is forced to resign under the political isolation law.

The law, which the legislature approved on May 5, is expected to result in the resignations of the principal of the General National Congress, dozens of lawmakers and a half-dozen Cabinet members.

The law is expected to put hundreds of thousands of Libyans out of work.

Heavily armed militias earlier this month surrounded government ministries in Tripoli, demanding that lawmakers pass the so-called political isolation law.

Mohamed al-Megariaf, principal of Libya’s General National Congress, is expected to pace down before the law comes into effectuate on June 6. He served as Libya’s ambassador to India at the time of his defection in the 1980′s.

Defense Minister Mohamed Barghathi is among those who are expected to lose their job. He was commander of the air force in Benghazi before he retired in 1994.

The law bars anyone who held an official position from Sept. 1, 1969, when Gaddafi seized power, until the end of the revolution on Oct. 23, 2011.

Comments are closed.

Article source: http://libya.tv/en/zeidan-nominates-new-interior-minister/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=zeidan-nominates-new-interior-minister

A group of outlaws set  fire to the building of the Libyan youth conduct Wednesday evening.

The arson took place in the Gargaresh area in Tripoli.

Sources at the youth conduct told Libya Ahrar, that these people had set fire to the building, to protest the killing of a person during clashes between drug dealers and police in the region during a raid on one of the drug houses.

No injuries were reported and the fire was put out leaving minimal damage.

Comments are closed.

Article source: http://libya.tv/en/outlaws-set-fire-to-channel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=outlaws-set-fire-to-channel

Sporadic Forest fires broke out in the Jabal Akdar (Green Mountain) reservation of Libya on Wednesday.

According to the official Shahaat Safety Authority spokesman Ayad Abdul Hafeez, the fires broke out in the forest area near the villages of Belkna and Ahbun, about 20 kilometers south of the community of Soussa.

The kindle devoured nearly 50 hectares of forest trees in the region.

Hafeez pointed out that the regional branch does not have the potential to extinguish the fires, and called on the government to immediately intervene to provide private jets to help extinguish fires due to the difficulty of the mountainous terrain.

Another National Safety Authority official Abdel Azim Amtoul, said that the fires that broke out in the area of Alatron gutted four fruit tree farms in an estimated area of ​​four hectares, according to the Libyan News Agency.

Comments are closed.

Article source: http://libya.tv/en/forest-fires-break-out-in-jabal-akdar-region/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=forest-fires-break-out-in-jabal-akdar-region

The General National Congress said that oil installations and facilities throughout the county belongs to all Libyans, regardless of location, and that no one has the right to shut down or prevent them from management tasks. 

The GNC also said that any disruption to pull would be seen as an act of sabotage to the state and economy and that any perpetrator would be prosecuted and punished by law, in a statement to the Libyan News Agency (LANA).

The GNC stressed that the government must to use its executive proficiency to do its part to protect oil facilities, institutions of civil sort and media institutions in the county and to raise awareness of the need for security and stability in the oil sector in the Libyan state.

Comments are closed.

Article source: http://libya.tv/en/gnc-closures-of-oil-facilities-an-act-of-sabotage/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gnc-closures-of-oil-facilities-an-act-of-sabotage

Libya’s Interior Minister has submitted his resignation, two official sources said on Tuesday, after months of efforts to curb armed groups who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi but have since stalled the transition to democracy.

Ashour Shuail, former police chief in the eastern city of Benghazi, was named Interior Minister late last year to tackle Libya’s most formidable domestic policy challenge – establishing a legitimate, effective national police force. However armed violence persists in wide areas of the North African state.

A ministry source said Shuail had handed in his resignation to primo Minister Ali Zeidan. “He has been asked by the PM and state television for the reason why and on both occasions he said it was for personal reasons.”

A source in Zeidan’s office confirmed the premier had recognized a resignation letter from Shuail.

Local media quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Majdi al-Ourfi as saying Shuail would remain on duty until Zeidan accepted his resignation and chose a successor.

Two members of the national collection told Reuters Zeidan had nominated police Colonel Mohammed Khalifa Sheikh to replace Shuail and asked the congress for approval. “We expect to start voting on this (soon),” one member said.

Awash with weapons in private hands, armed attacks have innumerable in the last few weeks, especially on police stations in Benghazi. Last month a car bomb devastated France’s embassy in Tripoli, wounding two French guards in the Libyan capital.

Shuail has not publicly spoken about leaving but his move would come after the national collection passed a law banning anyone who held a senior post under Gaddafi from government, regardless of their part in toppling the dictator.

Shuail worked with the police authority under Gaddafi but defected in the early days of the 2011 uprising. In December he won an appeal clearing him of close ties to Gaddafi’s regime.

Politicians debated the new law for months but the issue came to a head this month when heavily armed groups took control of two ministries during a nearly two-week siege, demanding immediate passage of the bill.

It remains unclear who will be affected by the legislation.

Sheikh, who previously worked in various Tripoli police stations and taught at a training academy, became an adviser on security matters to the national collection leader. He has also worked at the interior ministry.

Source - Reuters

Comments are closed.

Article source: http://libya.tv/en/interior-minister-submits-resignation-official-sources/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interior-minister-submits-resignation-official-sources

An issue on the political sidelines in Libya is the refugee and asylum seeker crisis. Reports of detainees kept in dangerous conditions and abuse in detention centres have confirmed the urgency for international help.

Earlier this month, Libya TV English reported on refugees detained in Ajdabiya, believed to be starving and subjected to inhumane treatment.  Sources claimed the workers were being forced into warehouse labour, and threatened with a transfer to a facility in the desert.