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By Sami Zaptia.

(Photo: LBC)

London, 16 April 2020:

The Libya Business Council (LBC), the only legally recognized Libya-wide business council representing businesses, warned today of the possibility of food shortages and price increases, especially in foodstuffs, due to the inflexible policies introduced by the Tripoli Central Bank of Libya (CBL) on the opening of Letters of Credit.

The LBC said that this was especially the case in view of the current conditions the country is going through, in reference to war on Tripoli, the oil blockade and the outbreak of the Coronavirus and their ramification on prices, supplies and trade.

The LBC said that this was especially the case in view of the current conditions the country is going through, in reference to war on Tripoli, the oil blockade and the outbreak of the Coronavirus and their ramification on prices, supplies and trade.

LBC chairman Abdalla Fellah, warned of the upward increases in prices in the local market and his fear of the scarcity of goods, especially food stuffs, due to the inability to import and the usual flow of goods as a result of the prohibitive requirements contained in the CBLs 8 April publication No. (2) to local banks on the conditions for opening LCs.

In a very damning swipe at the CBL, Fellah said that the CBLs new conditions for opening LCs has returned businesses to the times of directed trade, in a subtle reference to the bad old Qaddafi days where supporters and cronies of the regime received exclusive preferential treatment.

The accusation comes as the CBL today published a list of select companies it had opened LCs for. Accusations of corruption and favouritism have already been directed at it.

Fellah added that this prohibitive LC policy expressly reflects the central banks hegemony in its restrictive decisions and publications that dont take into account current difficult circumstances that the world is going through in general and Libya in particular, which will have consequences for the Libyan market and therefore on the citizen in the form of scarcity of goods and high prices.

In the same context, the LBC referred to the Libyan Banking Associations letter of 15 April to the CBL raising the same concerns about the scarcity of goods and price rises if a flexible mechanism in the implementation of documentary credits was not reached soon in order to easily provide the necessary goods to citizens at these difficult times.

Putting the call by the LBC for the CBL to be more flexible in its LC opening policy, it will be recalled that there is an ongoing battle between the Tripoli CBL and the Tripoli government as to who has ultimate control over economic and monetary policy.

The Tripoli CBL claims it is a technocratic monetary body not involved in political decisions and is the custodian of Libyas reserves of wealth accumulated in the 42-year Qaddafi era.

However, as politics and economics are two sides of the same coin, the CBL has been accused of being in total control of spending decisions.

On 8 April, Libyas internationally recognized Prime Minister, Faiez Serraj, launched a damning broadside on the CBL and its Governor Saddek El Kaber. He accused it of:

He complained that the CBL was too rigid in its decisions during times of crisis and referred to the rest of the world and their extraordinary measures during the Coronavirus outbreak let alone Libya and its virtually permanent state of crisis.

He saw no logic or wisdom in the halting of the opening of LCs at a critical time for the country time when other countries were increasing their strategic stocks of medical and food supplies. He placed the responsibility of this delay on El-Kaber, warning that even if he did recommence the issuing of LCs, it could be too late as the goods Libya needs may no longer be available during this Coronavirus crisis.

Serraj said that his government through its Economy Ministry should be the competent authority making the countrys economic decisions and not the CBL. He complained that Libyas monetary and financial policy and liquidity problems are the concern of the CBL and that it should do that job including solve the countrys bank queues. Serraj said that its interference in all other government policy was causing confusion not solving other problems and was very dangerous and needed solving.

He said that the CBL failed to come up with reform policies because its board is split and called for the reunification of the its board.

He said the CBL had become an unknown black box that no one knew how it operated. It wanted to interfere in all state institutions but did not want anyone else to interfere in it, adding that It should accept its responsibility.

The CBL should reform its institutions under its competency, make liquidity available, reduce bank queues, complete its board, set foreign currency sales surcharge instead of the government and provide a monetary policy by concentrating on its areas of competency.

In lieu of the adoption of Libyas permanent constitution and subsequent full elections, the CBL considers the successive governments since the 2011 revolution that overthrew the 42-year old Qaddafi regime, as short-term interim governments with questioned legitimacy and, in the CBLs view, limited mandate and authority. To this end it sees itself as the long-term custodian of Libyas accumulated oil wealth. It expects prudence and sustainable policies from these interim governments.

This is especially saw in the case in view of the war on Tripoli since April 2019, the oil blockade since January this year and the Coronavirus curfew since March.

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Libyan Business Council warns of food shortages and increased prices due to CBL's inflexible Letters of Credit policy | - Libya Herald

The Libyan National Army (LNA) is fighting an all-out war against Turkey as it competes to wrest control of Libya from the Turkish-backed and U.N.-recognised government in Tripoli, the LNAs spokesman said.

The LNA is fighting the Turkish army with all of its land, sea and electronic means, Syrian government-affiliated news site Al Masdar News quoted the LNAs spokesman, Ahmed al-Mismari, as saying at a press conference.

Turkey signed a deal with the Tripoli government in November that has seen Turkish soldiers deployed to Libya, where shipments of Turkish military hardware and drones have helped the capital withstand the assault from the eastern-based LNA.

International media reported that Turkey had also flown in thousands of its Syrian rebel allies to bolster Tripolis manpower.

The Syrian mercenaries in Libya are undergoing great losses, and Turkish intelligence is ready to publish any fake news with the aim of distracting them from their heavy losses, said Mismari at the press conference.

Continued here:
Libyan National Army fighting all-out war against Turkey - spokesman - Ahval

TUNIS -Western Libya is currently the scene of rapid military developments and surprising moves that might redraw the map of the balance of power on the ground.

The previous status quo was shaken by recent multipronged attacks on the coastal cities of western Libya by Islamist militias and other Turkey-backed mercenary groups that have enabled Fayez al-Sarraj and his government to score limited victories in time and space.

Tunisian and Libyan military sources revealed to The Arab Weekly that Libyas western coastal strip witnessed two days of major military movements, especially in the town of Rigdalin, where hundreds of military vehicles and equipment were gathered, along with thousands of militia members loyal to the Islamist-aligned Sarraj government.

The build-up coincided with the movement of large military convoys equipped with heavy artillery towards the town of Jameel and al-Assa Military Base near the Tunisian border, which means that the town of Rigdalin is now serving as a concentration and mobilisation centre for militias and mercenaries given its strategic location.

The town lies on the Libyan coast at about 120km west of the capital, Tripoli, 10km south-east of the town of Jameel, and about 10km north-east of the city of Zuwara.

On the other side, the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces, led by Field-Marshal Khalifa Haftar, began re-organising its ranks and pushing important military reinforcements to the western coastal region. A large mobilisation operation was monitored in the city of Rajban. It came after Haftar met with the chiefs of staff of the land, sea and air forces devoted to assessing the military developments in the western region and planning response measures to any new attack on Watiya airbase.

These mobilisation activities on both sides herald a new round of military confrontations in the region, amid expectations that Islamist militias loyal to Sarraj, backed by mercenaries sent by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are planning to launch a new attack on Watiya airbase, located 140km south-west of the capital, Tripoli.

These scenarios are justified on the ground by the fact that Watiya base was a tough nut to crack for the Sarraj government and its militias, despite their launching repeated attacks on the base for nearly two weeks with Turkish drones.

Officials of the Sarraj government said that their militias are now positioned on the outskirts of the base and waiting for orders to attack.

It seems that the Sarraj government, encouraged by its militias progress in the western coastal strip, wants to move quickly to take Watiya and thus gain complete control of western Libya. A couple of days ago, Sarraj vowed to take over the base. He made those statements after meeting with a number of his military officers, including Osama al-Juwaili, commander of the western region and the joint operations room, Muhammad al-Haddad, commander of the central region and Major General Abdul Basit Marwan, commander of the Tripoli region.

Some media outlets affiliated with the Sarraj government leaked reports that during that meeting a new plan was prepared by Juwaili to recapture the Watiya military base before the month of Ramadan, thereby ensuring control of the entire western coastal strip, and along the borders with Tunisia, especially the two land crossings Ras Jedir and Al-Dhiba/Wazan.

However, Libyan military sources raised questions about the accuracy of the leaks and considered them a new ploy to divert the LNA attention from the real goal of the current military moves. The sources pointed out that the closest and most likely target is the city of Tarhuna, which is still seen as a gaping hole in the governments plans to gain control of the western coastal strip.

The head of the Consultative State Council, Khaled al-Meshri, a leader in the Justice and Construction Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya, confirmed this hypothesis. He stated that the government controls 500km of the coast and is going to liberate the remaining towns such as Tarhuna." In previous media statements, Meshri said the military developments in the coastal strip give new importance to redrawing the geopolitical map of Libya."

Observers were not surprised by Sarraj government officials' newfound confidence. They linked it to ground developments brought about by increased Turkish involvement in the area. There has been a major influx of Turkish mercenaries, weapons and equipment over the past weeks, and Turkish officers are now running the operations. For all practical purposes, the battle is now directly between the LNA and Turkey.

Libyan political analyst Faraj Zidan said that the battle is now taking place between the army forces, led by Field-Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and the Turkish intelligence services, which are now leading the forces affiliated with the Government of National Accord." He added in television statements broadcast April 14 that the Libyans are now dealing directly with a Janissary force that includes a group or combination of factions, many of which are non-Libyan.

During the past few weeks, the influx of Turkish military elements into Libya under various labels, such as advisers and military experts, has accelerated, along with the influx of intelligence officers. The role of Turkish SADAT International Defence Consultancy Inc. and its mercenaries in the battles waged in the vicinity of Tripoli and the western region is now out in the open.

Jemai Guesmiis a Tunisian writer.

This article was originally published in The Arab Weekly.

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Turkey-backed forces alter balance of power in Libya | Jemai Guesmi - Middle East Online

CAIRO Libya's east-based military forces firing into residential neighborhoods of the country's besieged capital with heavy weapons killed three civilians on Friday, including an elderly man and a teenager, according to Tripoli health officials.

"The humanitarian situation is catastrophic, terrifying, really," said health ministry official Amin al-Hashemi.

Despite appeals for a freeze in the fighting so that authorities can confront the coronavirus pandemic, "the shelling has not stopped for hours, it is only increasing," he said.

On Friday, artillery rounds crashed into houses across from the prominent Royal Health Clinic in southern Tripoli, killing a 16-year-old boy and wounding his mother and two younger brothers, aged 12 and 8, said health ministry spokesman Malek Merset. In the Souk al-Juma neighborhood of Tripoli, one man was killed when a Grad rocket struck his home, and four others wounded, including a woman, he added.

Meanwhile, in a western Tripoli neighborhood, a 70-year-old man was killed and four members of the same family wounded when shells hit grocery stores and surrounding homes, said al-Hashemi.

The fighting over Tripoli erupted last April, when forces under the east-based commander Khalifa Haftar attacked the U.N.-backed government in the capital, trying to seize the city. In recent weeks, Hifter's forces have escalated their use of Grad rockets and artillery shells in Tripoli's densely populated neighborhoods, which by nature cannot be fired precisely and place civilians at grave risk.

The intensifying assault drew condemnation from the United Nations, where spokesman Stephane Dujarric appealed for a cease-fire on humanitarian grounds to slow the spread of the virus. The majority of Libya's 49 infections have been reported in Tripoli and the western city of Misrata.

The U.N.-backed government, which controls just a corner of the country's west, imposed a lock-down on Friday in its most sweeping anti-virus measure yet, warning that violators who venture out after curfew hours would be penalized. But while the virus may lurk in streets and public spaces, Tripoli residents increasingly do not feel safe in their homes either.

"A humanitarian pause is urgently required," said Dujarric, noting that the U.N. had recorded at least 131 civilian casualties, including 64 deaths, in the first three months of this year.

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Libya's east-based forces hit Tripoli civilian area, three dead - Stars and Stripes

CLAIMA graphic video of multiple bodies floating ashore is being circulated on WhatsApp with a claim that bodies of those who died due to Covid-19 infection are being thrown into the sea. The text shared with the video warns people against consuming fish or any other seafood as the consumer may end up contracting coronavirus.'; var randomNumber = Math.random(); var isIndia = (window.geoinfo && window.geoinfo.CountryCode === 'IN') && (window.location.href.indexOf('outsideindia') === -1 ); console.log(isIndia && randomNumber A loose translation of the Hindi text shared with the video reads, Do not eat any seafood because the corpses of corona patients have been thrown into the sea. The same bodies will be eaten by fish so when you consume the same fish, think what will happen to you.

Heres the screengrab of the query Times Fact Check received on its WhatsApp number. The reader wanted to know if the claim was true.

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FAKE ALERT: Old video from Libya shared claiming bodies of Covid-19 patients are thrown into sea - Times of India