Mediaboss Marketing

Conflicts in Libya from 2011 onwards

The Libyan Crisis[1][2] refers to the ongoing conflicts in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to a civil war, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and death of Muammar Gaddafi. The civil war's aftermath and proliferation of armed groups led to violence and instability across the country, which erupted into renewed civil war in 2014. The ongoing crisis in Libya has so far resulted in tens of thousands of casualties since the onset of violence in early 2011. During both civil wars, the output of Libya's economically crucial oil industry collapsed to a small fraction of its usual level, with most facilities blockaded or damaged by rival groups, despite having the largest oil reserves of any African country.[3] U.S. President Barack Obama stated on 11 April 2016 that not preparing for a post-Gaddafi Libya was probably the "worst mistake" of his presidency.[4]

The history of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi spanned 42 years from 1969 to 2011. Gaddafi became the de facto leader of the country on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan military officers against King Idris I in a nonviolent revolution and bloodless coup d'tat. After the king had fled the country, the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) headed by Gaddafi abolished the monarchy and the old constitution and proclaimed the new Libyan Arab Republic, with the motto "freedom, socialism, and unity".[5]

After coming to power, the RCC government took control of all petroleum companies operating in the country and initiated a process of directing funds toward providing education, health care and housing for all. Despite the reforms not being entirely effective, public education in the country became free and primary education compulsory for both sexes. Medical care became available to the public at no cost, but providing housing for all was a task that the government was not able to complete.[6] Under Gaddafi, per capita income in the country rose to more than US$11,000, the fifth-highest in Africa.[7] The increase in prosperity was accompanied by a controversial foreign policy and increased political repression at home.[5][8]

In early 2011, a civil war broke out in the context of the wider "Arab Spring". The anti-Gaddafi forces formed a committee named the National Transitional Council, on 27 February 2011. It was meant to act as an interim authority in the rebel-controlled areas. After the government began to roll back the rebels and a number of atrocities were committed by both sides,[9][10][11][12][13] a multinational coalition led by NATO forces intervened on 21 March 2011, ostensibly[14] to protect civilians against attacks by the government's forces.[15] Shortly thereafter, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Gaddafi and his entourage on 27 June 2011. Gaddafi was ousted from power in the wake of the fall of Tripoli to the rebel forces on 20 August 2011, although pockets of resistance held by forces loyal to Gaddafi's government held out for another two months, especially in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, which he declared the new capital of Libya on 1 September 2011.[16] His Jamahiriya regime came to an end the following month, culminating on 20 October 2011 with Sirte's capture, NATO airstrikes against Gaddafi's escape convoy, and his killing by rebel fighters.[17][18]

The Libyan revolution led to defected regime military members who joined rebel forces, revolutionary brigades that defected from the Libyan Army, post-revolutionary brigades, militias, and various other armed groups, many composed of ordinary workers and students. Some of the armed groups formed during the war against the regime and others evolved later for security purposes. Some were based on tribal allegiances. The groups formed in different parts of the country and varied considerably in size, capability, and influence. They were not united as one body, but they were not necessarily at odds with one another. Revolutionary brigades accounted for the majority of skilled and experienced fighters and weapons. Some militias evolved from criminal networks to violent extremist gangs, quite different from the brigades seeking to provide protection.[19][20]

After the first Libyan civil war, violence occurred involving various armed groups who fought against Gaddafi but refused to lay down their arms when the war ended in October 2011. Some brigades and militias shifted from merely delaying the surrender of their weapons to actively asserting a continuing political role as "guardians of the revolution", with hundreds of local armed groups filling the complex security vacuum left by the fall of Gaddafi. Before the official end of hostilities between loyalist and opposition forces, there were reports of sporadic clashes between rival militias and vigilante revenge killings.[19][21][22]

In dealing with the number of unregulated armed groups, the National Transitional Council called for all armed groups to register and unite under the Ministry of Defense, thus placing many armed groups on the payroll of the government.[23] This gave a degree of legitimacy to many armed groups, including General Khalifa Haftar who registered his armed group as the "Libyan National Army", the same name he used for his anti-Gaddafi forces after the 1980s ChadianLibyan conflict.[24]

On 11 September 2012, militants allied with Al-Qaeda attacked the US consulate in Benghazi,[25] killing the US ambassador and three others. This prompted a popular outcry against the semi-legal militias that were still operating, and resulted in the storming of several Islamist militia bases by protesters.[26][27] A large-scale government crackdown followed on non-sanctioned militias, with the Libyan Army raiding several now-illegal militias' headquarters and ordering them to disband.[28] The violence eventually escalated into the second Libyan civil war.

The second Libyan civil war[29][30] is an ongoing conflict among rival groups seeking control of the territory of Libya. The conflict has been mostly between the government of the Council of Deputies that was elected democratically in 2014 and internationally recognized as the "Libyan Government", also known as the "Tobruk government"; and the rival Islamist government of the General National Congress (GNC), also called the "National Salvation Government", based in the capital Tripoli. In December 2015 these two factions agreed in principle to unite as the Government of National Accord. Although the Government of National Accord is now functioning, its authority is still unclear as specific details acceptable to both sides have not yet been agreed upon.

The Tobruk government, strongest in eastern Libya, has the loyalty of Haftar's Libyan National Army and has been supported by air strikes by Egypt and the UAE.[31] The Islamist government of the GNC, strongest in western Libya, rejected the results of the 2014 election, and is led by the Muslim Brotherhood, backed by the wider Islamist coalition known as "Libya Dawn" and other militias,[32][33] and aided by Qatar, Sudan, and Turkey.[31][34]

In addition to these, there are also smaller rival groups: the Islamist Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, led by Ansar al-Sharia (Libya), which has had the support of the GNC;[35] the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL's) Libyan provinces;[36] as well as Tuareg militias of Ghat, controlling desert areas in the southwest; and local forces in Misrata District, controlling the towns of Bani Walid and Tawergha. The belligerents are coalitions of armed groups that sometimes change sides.[31]

Since 2015, there have been many political developments. The United Nations brokered a cease-fire in December 2015, and on 31 March 2016 the leaders of a new UN-supported "unity government" arrived in Tripoli.[37] On 5 April, the Islamist government in western Libya announced that it was suspending operations and handing power to the new unity government, officially named the "Government of National Accord", although it was not yet clear whether the new arrangement would succeed.[38] On 2 July, rival leaders reached an agreement to reunify the eastern and western managements of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC).[39] As of 22 August, the unity government still had not received the approval of Haftar's supporters in the Tobruk government,[40] and on 11 September the general boosted his political leverage by seizing control of two key oil terminals.[41] Haftar and the NOC then reached an agreement for increasing oil production and exports,[42] and all nine of Libya's major oil terminals were operating again in January 2017.[43]

In December 2017, the Libyan National Army seized Bengazhi after three years of fighting.[44] In February 2019, the LNA achieved victory in the Battle of Derna.[45] The LNA then launched a major offensive in April 2019 in an attempt to seize Tripoli.[46]

See the rest here:
Libyan Crisis (2011present) - Wikipedia

Libyas per capita income is among the highest in Africa. Oil revenues remain Libyas main source of income. At the beginning of the 21st century, oil and natural gas together accounted for almost three-fourths of the national income and nearly all of the countrys export earnings, although they employed less than one-tenth of the labour force. Under Muammar al-Qaddafi (19692011), the government exerted strong control over the economy; the petroleum industry was nationalized in the 1970s, and state trade unions and industrial organizations ran most other industries and utilities. To reduce the countrys heavy dependence on oil, economic policy has emphasized agricultural and industrial developments. Declining oil revenues during the 1980s, however, led to frequent revisions and delays in planned developments. Domestic reforms designed to liberalize economic policy and encourage private enterprise, begun in the late 1980s, continued into the 21st century.

Agriculture is limited by the environment and by shortages of labour. Only about 1 percent of the total land area is cultivated, mostly on the Al-Jifrah and Barce plains, and about one-tenth of that is irrigated. An additional almost one-tenth of the land is in pasture. Agricultural development by land reclamation and irrigation is a government priority. The largest projects are at the Al-Kufrah oasis, Twurgh, and Sarr, on the Al-Jifrah Plain, and in the Akhar Mountains. The Great Man-Made River project, begun at the end of the 20th century, is the most ambitious undertaking. Pipelines will carry water from wells in the southern Sahara to Tripoli, Sirte, Benghazi, Tobruk, and the Al-Kufrah oasis.

Cereals are the major crops throughout the country. Wheat (grown primarily on the eastern and western plateaus) is the largest cereal crop, although barley, which adapts well to different climates and soils, is also a chief cereal and remains a dietary staple. In addition, sorghum is raised in the Fezzan. Olive plantations were introduced by the Italians on the Al-Jifrah Plain and on the Nafsah Plateau, and there are smaller olive groves in the east. Orchards of almonds, citrus fruit, apricots, and figs grow on small and large farms and on small crowded plots in the oases. Dates are the principal crop of the southern oases. Grapes, broad beans, and peanuts (groundnuts) also are grown. Tobacco is raised in Tripolitania.

Animal husbandry is important in Cyrenaica, where the herds are raised on communal grazing lands. Livestock includes sheep, goats, cattle, camels, horses, mules, and donkeys. Animals are raised for their milk, meat, and hides or for their services as a means of transportation. Cattle often serve as draft animals. A small amount of milk is produced commercially, and commercial poultry farms are developing around the larger cities.

Less than 1 percent of the land is covered by forest. Prior to the 1950s, Libyas sole wooded area lay in the Akhar Mountains. Since then, the government has launched a massive forestation program. Between 1957 and 1964, for example, 27 million acacia, eucalyptus, cypress, cedar, and pine trees were planted in Tripolitania.

There is little demand in Libya for fish, and most fishing is done off the Tripolitanian coast by Libyan, Tunisian, Greek, and Maltese fishermen. The catch includes tuna, sardines, and red mullet. Sponge beds are also important. The sponges are harvested mainly by Greeks licensed by the Libyan government.

Petroleum was first discovered in Libya in 1956 near the Algerian border and is Libyas most important mineral resource. Subsequent finds have been mainly concentrated in onshore reserves located in the Sirte Basin. The major oil fields there include the Bahi, Dahra, and Sam fields, in the west of the basin; the Daf-Wah (Defa-Waha) and Nasser fields, in the north-centre; and the ml, Intir, and Sarr fields, located toward the east. Additional deposits have been located elsewhere in the country, including near Ghadames on the western border, Murzuq in the southwest, and the Al-Kufrah oasis in the southeast. Exploration for new deposits has concentrated on Tripolitania and offshore, where a large field was discovered northwest of Tripoli in 1988. Libyas proven oil reserves represent a large part of Africas total reserves and about 3 percent of the worlds total reserves. Libyan crude oil is low in sulfur content and therefore causes less corrosion and less pollution than most crude oils, which has made it popular in countries that have imposed stringent emissions standards. The deposits are associated with natural gas.

The first pipeline was constructed from the Zelten (later Nasser) field to Marsa el Brega in 1961. Since then, additional lines have been built from Dahra to Es Sider and to Ras Lanuf; other pipelines connect the Tobruk field to Marsa el Hariga and the Intir field to Zueitina. Refineries are located at Zawiyah, Misurata, Ras Lanuf, and Tobruk. A natural gas pipeline runs parallel to the oil pipeline from Nasser. The gas liquefaction plant at Marsa el Brega is one of the worlds largest.

Sales of Libyan oil to Europe were enhanced by the closure of the Suez Canal between 1967 and 1975. During the 1980s, however, production and revenues declined because of an increased supply of oil on the world market. The oil industry experienced a resurgence in the first decade of the 21st century as Qaddafi began to take steps to liberalize the Libyan economy and reduce the countrys international isolation. After the uprising that removed Qaddafi from power in 2011, however, political instability and factional fighting caused wide fluctuations in oil production.

Other mineral resources are limited. There are important deposits of natron (hydrated sodium carbonate) in the Fezzan and potash in Al-amryah Desert near Mardah. Iron ore deposits at Shi, although low in iron content, supply the iron-steel complex at Misurata. Marine salt is produced in Tripolitania, where there are also small deposits of gypsum, manganese, and lignite coal. Sulfur has been found in Al-amryah Desert, and there are scattered deposits of chalk, limestone, and marble that are quarried for the growing construction trade.

The production of electricity for public consumption is a government monopoly. There are also private plants, such as the 25,000-kilowatt facility built by an oil company at Marsa el Brega. The total installed capacity, all thermal plants powered by oil, grew more than sevenfold during the 1970s. In the early 21st century, efforts were underway to convert Libyas thermal plants from oil to natural gas in order to maximize petroleum available for export.

Industrial development is limited, although it expanded during the United Nations (UN) embargo of the country in the 1990s. Most factories are located in Tripoli and Benghazi and are managed by Arabs. The industrial workforce is small, with many factories employing fewer than 100 people. A majority of the factories manufacture processed food, cement, and textiles. There are also oil-related industries, which produce steel drums, tanks, and pipe fittings; petrochemical plants are located near refineries.

Read this article:
Libya - Economy | Britannica.com

Unaccountable militiassome linked to the interior and defense ministries of the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), and others linked to the Libyan National Army (LNA) affiliated with the rival Interim Governmentcontinued to clash with each other in various parts of the country, as efforts to reconcile main parties in the east and west failed. In Libyas south, Tebu, Tuareg, and Arab armed groups continued to clash for control of territory and resources.

Despite the UNs support for holding elections in 2018, prospects for a nationwide vote remained dim due to the political impasse.

The violence, including frequent attacks on oil installations, disrupted the economy and public services. Around 200,000 people remained internally displaced, as of October.

Armed groups, some of them affiliated with the GNA or the Interim Government, carried out extrajudicial executions, attacked civilians and civilian properties, and abducted, tortured, and disappeared people.

The extremist armed group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) carried out several attacks that killed both civilians and members of the security forces.

Although the number of migrants and asylum seekers who transited Libya en route to Europe dropped dramatically compared to 2017, the number of those who died trying to reach Europe via the so-called Central Mediterranean Route soared. Those who ended up in detention in Libya faced ill-treatment and inhumane conditions at the hands of guards in official detention centers run by one of the competing governments, and in unofficial places of detention controlled by militias or traffickers and smugglers.

The GNA struggled to gain control over territory and institutions in western Libya. The LNA, under the command of General Khalifa Hiftar and allied with the Interim Government, expanded control over territory in the east and south.

Libyas legislative body, the House of Representatives (HOR), allied with the LNA and Interim Government, approved on September 25 amendments to the 2011 Constitutional Declaration, paving the way for a referendum on the draft constitution, and gave the High National Elections Commission (HNEC) 90 days to organize the referendum.

On January 23, unidentified armed groups detonated two car bombs in front of Bayaat al-Radwan mosque in Benghazi, killing at least 34 people and wounding over 90. Video recordings appeared to show LNA commander Mahmoud al-Werfalli, wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since August 2017, allegedly executing 10 individuals on January 24 in front of the same mosque.

Between February and June, clashes in the southern town of Sebha between armed groups loyal to the Awlad Suleiman and Tebu groups killed at least 16 civilians.

On May 2, ISIS claimed responsibility for an armed attack on the HNEC in Tripoli that, according to news reports, resulted in the killing of 14, most of them staff members, and the wounding of least 19 others.

In May, after a nearly 20-month-long siege of Derna, the LNA started a land and air operation to wrest control of the eastern city from the Derna Mujahedeen Shura Council (DMSC), an armed group that includes Islamists that opposes the LNA. As of September, resistance was reduced to one neighborhood, where some families remained trapped by the fighting. According to GNA-linked local council officials and members of the Derna Committee for Displaced, at least 1,000 families had been displaced by the fighting to other towns. Local officials also alleged cases of extrajudicial executions, appropriation of private property, looting, and arbitrary detention by the LNA as it overran the city.

Clashes erupted on August 26 in the capital, Tripoli, between armed groups vying for control of state institutions and lasted one month. While the southern parts of the city bore the brunt, indiscriminate shelling in neighborhoods elsewhere also killed civilians and destroyed infrastructure. At least 120 people were killed and 400 wounded over the course of the month-long fighting, according to the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). The fighting involved destruction of civilian property, looting, abductions, and the displacement of thousands.

ISIS claimed responsibly for an attack on October 29, on al-Foqha, a town in central Libya, that resulted in the killing of four civiliansincluding two who were executed in publicin addition to at least nine who were abducted, according to UNSMIL.

Civilian and military courts operated at reduced capacity and were closed down entirely in some parts of the country

Prison authorities, often only nominally under the authority of one or another of the two rival governments, continued to hold thousands of detainees in long-term arbitrary detention without charges.

Pursuant to a ceasefire agreement between warring factions, the Special Deterrence Force (SDF), which is linked with the GNA Interior Ministry, released in September from Mitiga Prison, one of its prisons in Tripoli, 120 prisoners who had been held beyond the expiration of their sentences. In October, the SDF transferred 120 prisoners accused or sentenced for minor infractions, from Mitiga to Jdeida Prison, which is controlled by the GNA Justice Ministry. According to UNSMIL, authorities released 255 detainees in the aftermath of the crisis as of November 8.

Over 100 mostly non-Libyan women and children remain held without charge in two prisons in Tripoli and Misrata, and 24 orphaned children were at time of writing being held separately in a facility run by the Libyan Red Crescent in Misrata, all of them because of their suspected familial relationship to alleged ISIS fighters. There are few prospects for their release, either because it is not clear where they are from or because their governments will not accept their repatriation. Prisons in Libya are marked by overcrowding, bad living conditions, widespread ill-treatment and the lack of specialized services for women and children, such as educational and leisure activities and medical care.

On July 4, a second arrest warrant was issued at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against LNA Commander al-Werfalli. Al-Werfallis whereabouts were unknown at time of writing.

The ICC unsealed in April 2017 an arrest warrant that it had issued in 2013 for Mohamed Khaled al-Tuhamy, who, under ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, headed the Internal Security Agency, for serious crimes committed during the 2011 uprising. His whereabouts were unknown at time of writing.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was sentenced to death in absentia by a Libyan court in 2015, continued to be subject to an ICC arrest warrant to face charges of crimes against humanity. Gaddafis current whereabouts cannot be confirmed; independent international observers have not seen or heard from him since 2014.

In her November update to the Security Council, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda responded to a challenge brought by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi disputing the admissibility of his case in front of the ICC and affirmed that he should be arrested and surrendered to the court.

The death penalty is stipulated in over 30 articles in Libyas penal code, including for acts of speech and association. An unknown number of people were sentenced to death by Libyan civil and military courts since 2011, often after trials marred by due process violations. No death sentences have been carried out since 2010.

On August 15, and despite allegations of serious due process violations, a Tripoli court convicted 99 suspected Gaddafi supporters in a mass trial, sentencing 45 to death and 54 to five years in prison, in relation to the alleged killing of 146 people during the 2011 uprising.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that around 200,000 people were internally displaced in Libya as of October.

A few hundred of the 40,000 residents of Tawergha whom armed groups and authorities based in Misrata forcibly displaced in 2011, began to return to their hometown after authorities representing Misrata and Tawergha signed a reconciliation memorandum in June. Authorities in the city of Misrata accused Tawerghans of having committed serious crimes as alleged Gaddafi supporters during the 2011 uprising that ousted him. Misrata-linked armed groups ransacked, looted, burned, and destroyed the town after the departure of the population in 2011.

Fighting in eastern Libya since May 2014 has displaced thousands of civilians from Benghazi and Ajdabiya. They have sought shelter in the west of the country after militias affiliated with the LNA accused them of being terrorists and detained them, and attacked, burned or appropriated their homes. Since 2014, authorities in Misrata and Tripoli have detained tens of people displaced from Benghazi, often on dubious terrorism allegations. Since the fighting started in May in Derna, at least 1,000 families fled the fighting, according to Derna officials.

Armed groups intimidated, threatened, and physically attacked activists, journalists, bloggers, and media professionals.

On April 29, the SDF arrested Suleiman Qashout and Ahmed Yaacoubi, organizers of an annual media award in Libya. They were both released in July, after being held without charge. Relatives and colleagues speculated that the SDF might have targeted the men because it disapproved of revealing clothing and the mixing of men and women at the award ceremony.

Musa Abdul Kareem, a journalist with the newspaper Fasanea, which is based in the south of Libya, was found dead on July 31 in Sebha, after unidentified individuals abducted him. According to news reports, Kareem had written reports critical of militias in Sebha.

On August 1, an armed group linked with the GNA Interior Ministry detained at the Tripoli Naval Base four Libyan journalists and photographers from Reuters and Agence France-Presse who were covering migration-related issues and held them for 10 hours without explanation.

Since 2011, militias and forces affiliated with several interim authorities, as well as ISIS fighters, have attacked religious minorities, including Sufis, Ibadis, and Christians, and destroyed religious sites in Libya with impunity.

On November 28, 2017, unidentified assailants set fire to Zawiyat Sheikha Radiya, a historic Sufi mosque in Tripoli, heavily damaging it. This attack follows the destruction by unidentified assailants in October 2017 of Sidi Abu Gharara, another historic Sufi mosque in Tripoli.

In July, unidentified armed groups attacked and damaged at least four Sufi sites in Al-Majouri and Al-Kish neighborhoods of Benghazi.

Libyan law does not criminalize domestic violence. Personal status laws discriminate against women, particularly with respect to marriage, divorce, and inheritance. The penal code allows for a reduced sentence for a man who kills or injures his wife or another female relative because he suspects her of extramarital sexual relations. It also allows rapists to escape prosecution if they marry their victim.

The penal code prohibits all sexual acts outside marriage, including consensual same-sex relations, and punishes them with flogging and up to five years in prison.

According to human rights activists, armed groups have continued to detain people because of their sexual orientation.

Libya remained a major hub for refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants on their way to Europe. Human Rights Watch interviewed migrants and asylum seekers who reported a litany of abuses at the hands of smugglers, and members of militias and gangs including rapes, beatings, and killings, with no intervention or protection provided by Libyas weak law enforcement agencies.

As of August, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded around 20,000 arrivals to Italy and Malta by sea since January, most of whom departed from Libya. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at least 1,111 died or went missing while crossing the central Mediterranean route to Europe. As of August, the IOM reported that there were 669,176 migrants in Libya, including more than 60,000 children.

Libya is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not have a refugee law or procedure. UNHCR registers some asylum seekers but theyand those unable to registerare not effectively protected and assisted in Libya.

To discourage and prevent arrivals in Europe from Libya, the European Union has provided training, equipment, and funds to Libyan coast guard forces to intercept boats both in Libyan coastal waters and international waters, and to return migrants and asylum seekers to Libyan territory.

Migrants and asylum seekers who are captured at sea and returned to Libyan territory, are placed in detention, where many suffer inhumane conditions, including beatings, sexual violence, extortion, forced labor, inadequate medical treatment, and insufficient food and water.

The Department for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM), under the GNA Interior Ministry, manages the formal migrant detention centers, while smugglers and traffickers run informal ones. As of July, DCIM estimated that official detention centers were holding 9,000 migrants and asylum seekers in Libya.

The United States continued to conduct what it calls precision airstrikes against purported ISIS and Al-Qaeda targets in the south and west of the country. The United States did not report any civilian casualties

In a report issued on May 10, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, the special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the first expert under the UN Special Procedures mechanisms to visit Libya after 2011, criticized the lack of a legal framework for addressing the rights and needs of IDPs, and the absence of a comprehensive policy in line with international standards.

In June, the UN Security Council renewed the arms embargo on Libya, effective since 2011, for another 12 months, and added measures to inspect vessels suspected of violating the embargo. On June 7, the Libya Sanctions Committee responsible for overseeing sanctions imposed by the Security Council, approved the addition of six individualsincluding two Eritrean and six Libyan nationalsto the Libya Sanctions List subjecting them to asset freezes and travel bans in relation to alleged serious human rights abuses of migrants and participation in illicit human trafficking and smuggling.

On September 5, the UN Panel of Experts, established pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 1973 (2011), issued its final 2018 report on threats and attacks on Libyan state institutions, human rights abuses, violations of the arms embargo, illicit exports of petroleum and implementation of asset freezes and travel bans. The report found that most armed groups involved in human rights violations were affiliated with the GNA or LNA.

According to the panel, weapons transfers to eastern Libyan such as armored vehicles, rifles, mortar, and rocket launchers have increased most notably in eastern Libya, which indicated that member states were not sufficiently enforcing the arms embargo.

In September, the UN Sanctions Committee imposed an asset freeze and travel ban on Ibrahim Jadhran, a Libyan militia commander, for his repeated attacks against the oil crescent region in Libya that resulted in civilian casualties and for his attempts to export oil illegally.

The mandate of the European Unions anti-smuggling naval operation in the central Mediterranean, Operation Sophia, runs until December 2018. It aims to disrupt migrant smugglers and human traffickers; it also has provided training to Libyan Coastguard and Navy forces and contributed to the enforcement of the UN arms embargo in international waters off Libyas coast.

Read more from the original source:
World Report 2019: Libya | Human Rights Watch

These refining towers are at Libya's Zawiya oil refinery near Tripoli.

These refining towers are at Libya's Zawiya oil refinery near Tripoli.

These refining towers are at Libya's Zawiya oil refinery near Tripoli.

These refining towers are at Libya's Zawiya oil refinery near Tripoli.

Libya, on brink of civil war, opens Houston oil HQ

On the brink of an escalating civil war, Libya opened its new U.S. oil headquarters Wednesday in Houston with the hope of political stability and increasing petroleum output on the horizon.

Libya's national oil company opened its new office in the BBVA Compass Plaza on Post Oak Boulevard in the Galleria area.

The new headquarters will serve as Libya's procurement office as it seeks to buy equipment from American energy companies and contract with U.S. services firms.

Libya's oil output is hovering near 900,000 barrels a day, which is down from 2018 highs of more than 1 million barrels. But the North African nation aspires for a lot of petroleum growth if it get stabilize its political leadership and reach a ceasefire. Libya aims to grow above 2 million barrels daily by the end of 2021.

"This office is projected to source over $10 billion worth of equipment, technology and services within the next few years, in addition to employing Houstonians and serving as an additional resource in the business community," said David Phillips, chairman of the Bilateral U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce.

RELATED:Oil rises on optimism OPEC+ supply curbs will stabilize market

Mustafa Sanalla, the chairman of Libya National Oil Corp., and Mohamed Abdo Denbarno, the General Manager of the Houston office, marked the grand opening on Wednesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Read the original here:
Libya, on brink of civil war, opens Houston oil HQ ...

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - With the frontlines around Libyas contested capital Tripoli stalemated, the two rival factions are bringing oil and money supplies into the firing line of their battle for power.

FILE PHOTO: Members of forces loyal to Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar are seen with military vehicles near Libya's El Sharara oilfield in Obari,Libya, February 11, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

Khalifa Haftar, chief of the eastern-based forces which are attacking the city, is putting pressure on state oil firm NOC and its operations in his fiefdom, diplomats and analysts say.

In response, the internationally-recognized government in Tripoli is limiting his access to hard currency, the sources said.

The moves mark a new turn in a war which started in early April when Haftar, who is allied to a parallel administration in eastern Libya, mounted a campaign to capture Tripoli.

His Libyan National Army (LNA) fighters have been unable to advance into the city center and costs are piling up as ammunition and other supplies need to be brought in from their home base in Benghazi 1,000 km (600 miles) away.

This has prompted Haftar to use oil as a strategic asset.

The LNA controls areas surrounding most of Libyas oil infrastructure but it does not benefit directly from oil and gas sales, which go through NOC in Tripoli managing the day-to-day operations.

NOC has tried to stay out of the conflict but it distributes energy revenues to the Tripoli-based central bank, which only works with Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

In recent days, Haftar has met with two executives working for NOC in the east in his base outside Benghazi.

The first was the chairman of NOC subsidiary AGOCO, which produces a third of Libyas output. Then Haftar met NOC board member Jadallah al-Awakli.

His office released pictures of the meetings showing the general dressed in military uniform.

Asked by Reuters about his meeting, Awakli said oil operations were benefiting from security provided by the LNA.

I congratulate the LNA on its victories, he said.

Another NOC unit in east Libya, Sirte Oil firm, also expressed support for the Tripoli offensive on its website.

The meetings took place days after the LNA sent a warship to Ras Lanuf port 600 km (400 miles) from the frontlines.

At the same time NOC said soldiers had entered Es Sider port and seized its air strip. It condemned what it called a militarization of oil facilities but did not name the LNA, which controls the area.

LNA officials denied this and said oil ports work normally.

Diplomats and analysts saw the move as a sign that Haftar wants to remind Tripoli he can stop oil exports as a way to pressure Serraj into a deal to share oil revenues should he not win on the battlefield.

The LNA last year tried to export oil bypassing NOC via a parallel NOC entity which has some 500 staff on duty.

NOC is concerned by renewed attempts to divide the corporation, a spokesman for NOC Tripoli said. It is particularly alarmed by evidence of staff coercion and is attempting to clarify the circumstances behind recent statements in support of the armed assault on Tripoli.

Analysts said Haftar is under financial pressure because Tripoli has limited his access to hard currency.

The LNA needs to import gear via merchants as its main foreign backers, Egypt and United Arab Emirates, have provided heavy equipment such as helicopters but have been reluctant to provide cash, Western and Gulf diplomatic sources said.

Haftar appears to be contingency planning for how he will continue funding his growing operation and what will likely be a prolonged conflict, said Tarek Megerisi, a European Council

policy fellow.

Diplomats said Haftar is trying gain the upper hand in the Tripoli war before the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan next week, when life slows down. The LNA would still need to maintain costly supply lines if a long stalemate occurs.

Haftar could try to force Tripoli into a deal by blocking oil exports, which would end funding for the government, or he could even consider trying to sell oil again, analysts said.

Washington stopped previous such attempts, even dispatching Navy SEALs to storm a tanker which had set off from a port run by a rogue commander in 2014.

Given he currently enjoys the backing of President (Donald) Trump, Haftar may now feel emboldened to try again and create a reliable revenue stream for himself, Megerisi said.

Trump told Haftar in a phone call he recognized his efforts in securing oil facilities, the White House has said.

Libyas output has been so far unaffected, remaining at about 1.1 million barrels a day though the conflict has divided even technocrats. An oil manager in Tripoli joined the front as well as engineers in the east.

An armed group on Monday attacked the southern El Sharara oilfield, which pumps 300,000 bpd, exploiting a vacuum as the LNA has moved troops north.

Tripoli has responded to Haftars moves with the central bank (CBL) on Monday imposing special checks on four banks, three of them in Benghazi, before they can get hard currency.

It cited suspicions of corruption but the east said this was just an excuse.

CBL...has opened a frontline of war and a siege on banks in Barqa, said Ramzi al-Agha, head of the liquidity committee at the eastern parallel central bank.

Barqa is a term for the east often used by activists demanding secession or at least autonomy from the west.

Jalel Harchaoui, research fellow at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, said Haftar felt emboldened by a paralysis of U.N Security Council which has been unable to even call for a ceasefire.

Using the counter-terrorism argument many profound changes could be implemented especially with foreign support, he said. A big chunk of at oil exports is at risk owing to political reasons.

Continued here:
Libya's rival governments move to financial war with ...