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It is very relevant news in the fight against human trafficking in Libya, if we respond positively, Mr. Gentiloni said after the meeting. I believe this is necessary.

But the potential hurdles confronting such a strategy are manifold. Not least it requires the approval of parliament, which is scheduled to begin debating the potential deployment next Tuesday.

Once parliament gives consent, which is expected, the defense ministry says that it can quickly begin a mission and expects three to six ships, but also helicopters, fighter jets and drones, to be in action by mid-August.

In the meantime, Italian government officials said they were trying to untangle thorny issues related to the rules of engagement.

Those included what Italian warships would do if they encountered hostile human traffickers in foreign waters; whether they can stop arms and oil smugglers as well as human traffickers; and whether the migrants they might have to rescue should be returned to Libya, where they could face a horrific security situation.

The political impact could also be significant. Domestically, the waves of migrants have become a conservative talking point against the center-left government, which has found itself increasingly on the defensive as elections approach.

The crisis has stoked tensions between Italy and its European Union partners, who have mostly been unwilling to share the burden of migrants flowing into Italy, even as many of the migrants seek destinations farther north among Europes richer countries.

Since 2015, the government in Tripoli has denied the European Unions antismuggling mission, called Sophia, from entering its waters. Italian efforts to train the Libyan Coast Guard have proved mostly ineffective.

Instead, Libya has emerged as a key point of departure for hundreds of thousands of migrants, as human traffickers capitalize on the power vacuum created by the overthrow and killing of Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011.

Aid groups operating ships have rescued a significant percentage of the migrants in grave risk of drowning at sea. Some anti-immigrant parties have accused the aid groups of encouraging, or even colluding with, human traffickers.

That suspicion, and a far-right-wing ideology to protect European countries from Muslim and a nonwhite invasion, prompted a group of far-right activists operating under the name Defend Europe to charter a ship to monitor and disrupt aid group activity to prevent asylum seekers from reaching Europe.

The identitarians, as they call themselves, planned to board the ship this month in Sicily and sail toward Libyan waters. But the ship got stuck for days in Egypt.

On Wednesday, it arrived in Northern Cyprus, where its captain and first mate were reportedly arrested themselves for people-smuggling and forging documents after about 20 South Asians were found on board.

About five of the South Asian crew asked for asylum. A spokesman for Defend Europe blamed the asylum requests on bribes from aid groups.

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Italy Plans Naval Mission Off Libya to Stop Migrant Boats - New York Times

Human Rights Watch

Rights group: Armed groups in western Libya attack activists Miami Herald Human Rights Watch says that activists in western Libya have been physically attacked and threatened by armed groups, some affiliated with U.N.-backed government based in the country's capital, Tripoli. The statement by the New York-based watchdog on ... Libya: Activists Being Silenced | Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch Intimidation by militias creates censorship in western Libya says rights groupLibya Herald all 4 news articles »

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Rights group: Armed groups in western Libya attack activists - Miami Herald

A militia fighting on behalf of Libyas UN-backed government has warned that Isis militants are regrouping in order to launch a new attack on the city of Misrata, the countrys trade capital.

We have spotted movements by Daesh (Isis) in the south of Sirte, where they are trying to regroup and break through our forces' lines in the south, Mohamed Ghasri, spokesperson and senior commander of the al-Bunyan al-Marsous forces,said on Wednesday.

The militia was a key force in helping drive Isis out of the coastal city of Sirte last year after a gruelling six-month-long campaign aided by US air strikes.

British MPs hold Cameron responsible over Libya intervention

Misrata-basedAl-Bunyan al-Marsous now believes an attack on their port city is imminent asMr Ghasri warned that his troops have lacked international support to fend off Isis since driving them from Sirte city in 2015.

Isis leaders in the country are now operating in the southern Sirte countryside. Mr Ghasri did not give details on how many fighters Isis is believed to be readying for a fresh assault on Misrata.

The civil war that has engulfed Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 has allowed warlords and extremists to gain footholds across the country.

A new round of diplomacybetween the internationally recognised government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and rival eastern commander Khalifa Haftar began on Tuesday. A ceasefirehas been implemented - except in the fight against terrorist organisations-and elections are possiblyon the table in talksin Paris by the French government.

Faced with a string of military defeats in its caliphate across Syria and Iraq, observers believe Isis will concentrate on its operations in countries such as Libya, which facepower vacuums, and step up terror attacks on civilians worldwide.

News agencies contributed to this report

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Isis is regrouping for battle after losing Mosul and Raqqa, warn Libyan forces - The Independent

Libya is a tribal society where tribal leaders have been major actors throughout the history of the country. From the Italian colonization between 1911 to 1943- to the Arab spring - in 2011- tribal leaders have played a crucial role in keeping the unity between Libyans and maintaining a relative peace in most of the country. However, tribes have reinvented their role since the revolution where they are not only solving individual crimes but facing the reality of a civil war within the country. This new role of the tribes has evolved the customary law called Orf in Arabic and it is the common law that is used by the tribal leaders to resolve local and national disputes into an established law system. With the three contesting governments failing to provide security and the pockets of violence in the country, Orf is the only effective law that the vast majority of Libyans respect.

While it is true that tribal grievances and disputes are a contributing factor in the post-2011 conflict in Libya, the efforts of the tribal leaders as peacemakers is underestimated. In Libya, it is widely believed that tribes are involved in the conflicts and are the one who can make peace. Therefore, tribes can play a key role both in peace and conflict. The key lies, in which role we choose to use them.

Hukama (Wise Men) usually tribal sheikhs have become the most active peacemakers in Libya. While politicians are considered too busy fighting over power, Hukama are engaged in the process of peacebuilding to conflict prevention by using Orf. Their importance emerged prominently after the collapse of state security and stability in 2014. Therefore, capitalizing on the effective role that Hukama are playing is the most pragmatic solution for containing most of the conflicts in Libya now.

Before the Libyan revolution which toppled Libya dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Orf was one of the sources used in Libyan criminal cases. The state relied on Sheikhs to solve small-scale crimes. According to Abubakar Almenfi (Tribal sheikh in Tobruk city in the east of Libya), a Libyan judge can free the perpetrator, in a killing crime, if the two tribes victim and perpetrator families resolve the conflict using Orf. Although many would believe this is an overstepping of the law, Libyans saw Orf, especially in the areas far from the central government, as a vital component in restoring relationships and enhancing the social cohesion within the community. Najla Mangoush (Libyan PhD candidate in peacebuilding) says, in an interview with Peacemakers Network, The power of the tribal leaders is how they can restore the relationship between two sides that have been affected by the conflict.

Post-2011 revolution, the traditional peacemakers were forced to evolve their engagement from solving small conflicts to dealing with national ones. As the absence of law grew and with the gradual deterioration of the state security, the Orf authority gained more respect, and Hukama became almost the most active peacemakers in the country. The concept of Orf is considered by many Libyans to be the only thing that is still holding Libya together and providing a relative stability in some parts of the country. According to the USIP report in 2016 Tribe, Security, Justice and Peace in Libya Today, 979 Libyans have been interviewed and over 60 percent of respondents agreed that tribes were able to provide security to the community. Despite the fact that Gaddafis weapons are easily available on the streets with no government control, Orf has relatively succeeded in keeping the social fabric together in some places. Maree Albarsha, a Sheikh from the Magarba tribe, said: If thousands of Libyan lives have been lost in the current civil war in Libya, Orf has saved hundreds of thousands.

Historically Libya consists of three provinces; Tripolitania (west), Cyrenaica (east) and Fezzan (south). Cultures and customs vary from region to region. As a result, the roots and causes of conflict in each area are not akin and differ significantly. Nonetheless, they share in their respect for Orf, and Hukama still can have an influence among the public in the three provinces.

Tribal Peace Efforts in West Libya

The prolonging of the liberation war against Gaddafis regime triggered a national division splitting the cities in west Libya into two camps; pro-Gaddafi and anti-Gaddafi. Although some people think that the root of the conflict in the West was the dispute over fighting Gaddafi, many others assume that the war against Gaddafi was a pretext to revenge for old communal disputes, such as conflicts over lands or historical conflicts since the Ottoman and Italian eras.

In the Nafusa Mountains, in the north-west of Libya, for instance, Zintan and Meshashya tribes have been involved in a violent conflict since the spark of the Libyan revolution. Zintan accused Meshashya of helping Gaddafi army in bombarding Zintan. Whereas, Meshashya believed that Zintan wanted to take control of several disputed lands and used the war against Gaddafi as an excuse. Since October 2011, more than 2500 people from Meshashya fled three villages near Zintan. Even though Zintan did not forcibly displace them, there was a direct threat to their lives if they returned.

With the security vacuum and intensity of the political scene in Libya since 2011, the consecutive governments were not successful in mediating a peace deal between the two tribes. So, a coalition of twelve tribes from all over Libya stepped in and managed to make an inter-tribal reconciliation deal something the three currently competing governments were not able to do. This peace accord, signed on May 18th, 2017 in Alasaba city, paved the way for the shops, schools and hospitals to reopen and ultimately the return of all internally displaced people from the three Meshashya inhabited villages: Awiniya, Zawyt Albagol, and Umar. This coalition negotiated the peace accord tirelessly for more than a year, according to Mohamed Abo Kasem, a member of the reconciliation committee from Meshashya . This alliance reflects the tribal leaders ability to stop and prevent further conflicts and act as peacemakers in the absence of state authority, Mr Abo Kasem added.

Tribal Peace Efforts in the East

Contrary to the west of Libya, the East (Known as Cyrenaica) was liberated from Gaddafi regime in almost a week. As a result, the division stemming from the war against Gaddafi did not infiltrate communities in this region. Similar to the rest of Libya, however, the absence of law is increasing. The assassination of army and police officers started to ramp up in 2013. That led to the war between the Libyan National Armey (LNA), and 17th of February revolutionaries and Ansar al-Sharia (on the UN Al Qaeda sanctions list), in Benghazi. With the war tearing the eastern region, the deactivation of the justice system, and absence of the rule of law, tribal sheikhs decided to act.

Majdi Boshiha, a Shiek from Twajeer Tribe based in Benghazi, said: We cannot wait for the government or the army to provide security; we need to act and do it fast. Based on this sentiment from tribal leaders and their understanding of their national responsibility, all Cyrenaica tribes gathered on April 15th, 2017 in Asahel city, 300 Km east of Benghazi, to codify and endorse the Orf temporarily. They called it the Cyrenaica Honor Code, which acts as guidelines to solving conflicts and sustaining peace by providing steps to be taken in case of any crime or violent act. This was the first time that the Orf was officially written. Tribes cannot be a political party, lawmaker, or get involved in politics, but we cannot sit by and watch people die every day and do nothing, said Maree Albarsha. He added, This Honor Code is meant to fill the security vacuum, prevent revenge, avert violence and preserve the sense of security that most Libyans are missing.

This tribal initiative is what is holding the eastern region of Libya together in the current war, as no city or tribe is currently attacking another. It is a culmination of tribal efforts to prevent the war in Benghazi flaring into another cycle of violence in the region. However, the lack of participation of youth and women in the tribal efforts has made many people skeptic of the tribal peace process. Youth and women are the most affected by the current Libyan crisis and any peace deal has to consider and involve these two parts of the society. Therefore, the tribal elders have to communicate more with the youth and women in order to improve their role in ending local conflicts.

Perspective for Any Future Peace Initiative

The Libyan tribal sheikhs have a track record in acting to prevent violence, peacekeeping, and saving many lives in Libya among the current chaos. As a result, not respecting and utilizing the tribal traditional way of bringing people together, can indicate a lack of understanding of how Libyan society functions. Hence, if any entity, whether it is the Libyan authorities, the UN or other national governments, needs a strategy to end the conflict, this strategy should put the following into consideration:

The successful tribal efforts of peacemaking show that tribal sheikhs, with time and support, can be effective in ceasing violence at the local level. Therefore, there should be support to such interventions and invest in partnership with the local leaders. They could, for example, create a peacebuilding office in each municipality, consisting of Hukama, to help the local police in containing any conflicts. While it is true that this idea is implemented in some places, it doesnt receive enough support.

The Cyrenaica Honor Code success in sustaining peace between tribes in the East can be a Libyan model for all unstable regions in Libya and used nationwide. The relative stability of communities in the east of Libya underscores the effectiveness of the Orf, due to the high respect for it among Libyans. We can take advantage of the Orf respect to build sustainable peace as a second step after averting violence until national reconciliation can be achieved and a federal government reestablished.

Finally, peace needs economic development to be sustained, and political reconciliation is essential for this development and investment. Many Libyans believe that economic well-being can draw people away from their disputes. Therefore, and parallel to tribal leaders efforts, the Libyan authorities and the international community have to maximize their efforts in bringing the political factions together and improving the governance of national resource revenue to ensure the turning of the economic wheel.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Libya Observer

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In Libya, Only One System of Law is Function, and it's Not a State Law - The Libya Observer

Gina Waldman was forced to flee her native Libya in 1967 as anti-Jewish mobs took to the streets of Tripoli, burning down her fathers warehouse.

Waldman, like thousands of other Libyan Jews who left the country amid public and state-sponsored anti-Semitism in the 20th century, was forced to leave behind both personal belongings she was only allowed to bring a single suitcase with her and a rich cultural heritage that testified to over 2,000 years of Jewish presence in the North African country. Today, no Jews remain in Libya.

That heritage, including synagogues, cemeteries and ritual objects, has long been under threat. But now an additional obstacle is coming from an unlikely place, said Waldman president and co-founder of the group Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa.

The threat stems from a memorandum of understanding request by the Libyan government currently under consideration by the State Department that would prohibit artifacts dated 1911 and earlier, including Jewish ritual objects, from being brought into the United States from Libya.

That would mean anyone attempting to bring in antique Torah scrolls, tombstones, books and other ritual objects would be stopped at the U.S. border, and the objects would be confiscated and sent back to Libya.

Waldman, who lives in San Francisco, called the measure very, very offensive to the Jewish community.

She said the memorandum would block people from removing Jewish artifacts when the very government itself has destroyed every single synagogue, every single [Jewish] cemetery.

Waldman said she is not aware of anyone having attempted to take Jewish artifacts out of Libya, or of any plans to do so. But she worries that the memorandum would affect any future efforts to recover those materials.

Pillaging of Jewish sites

The State Departments Cultural Property Advisory Committee convened last week to discuss and consider the request, which Libya submitted in June. It has not announced a decision. The State Department emailed JTA saying it would comment by Monday, but did not follow through.

Libya claims that the request is necessary for curbing black market sales of artifacts from the country.

Libyas patrimony is now under severe and continuing threat of pillage due to ongoing conflict and the rise of violent extremist groups, according to a State Department summary of the request. (The original request is not available publicly.)

In addition to mentioning threats to Islamic and Berber materials, the summary specifically refers to Jewish sites being pillaged.

Many of the old Jewish cemeteries and sites are being looted for antiquities to export where there is an active transit or ultimate market for these objects, it says, later adding that some Jewish materials are sold in Israel.

Critics say the request is illegitimate and allows for Libya to claim ownership of various artifacts, including those that belong to its exiled Jewish community.

Kate Fitz Gibbon, a lawyer who served on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee in 2002-03, was critical of the memorandum.

I was terrifically offended at this idea that a Middle Eastern country that has forcibly expelled all of its Jewish population should have whatever is left, she told JTA. This is the opposite of Holocaust repatriation. This is telling the survivors they should give whats left back to the oppressors.

Fitz Gibbon added that there was no proof in the State Department summary that Jewish artifacts were in fact being taken out of Libya.

Last Wednesday, she spoke in opposition to the memorandum on behalf of the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association at a public open session organized by the State Department.

In addition to sharing objections on behalf of Jewish critics, Fitz Gibbon also said Libya was not capable of properly preserving artifacts. The country, which has been in disarray following the 2011 fighting that toppled dictator Muammar Gadhafi, is currently under the rule of a provisional government and violent clashes continue to break out.

Libya, which has no museums they have 24 museums; they are all closed no tourism, has never done cultural exchange, and in this actual request said Were not going to do any cultural exchange because we dont have the money or time of the ability, there is no question that Libya doesnt even meet one of these criteria for an MOU, Fitz Gibbon said.

Iraqi Jewish archive

Libyas request is not unprecedented. The United States has similar agreements with 17 countries, including one reached recently with Egypt.

Congress also has passed emergency laws restricting artifacts from Iraq and Syria from entering the country.

Such laws draw on a 1970 UNESCO convention that allows for the placing of import and export restrictions in cases where a countrys patrimony is under threat of pillaging and its artifacts in danger of entering the black market.

A similar battle is playing out with an Iraqi Jewish archive uncovered by U.S. troops in Baghdad in 2003.

The artifacts were on tour in the United States in 2014 and were supposed to be returned to Iraq. But Jewish groups objected, saying they should be in the custody of the Iraqi Jewish community, which is living outside of the country after being driven out. The case of those artifacts remains unresolved.

Marc Lubin, a lawyer assisting Waldmans group, said efforts to keep Jewish artifacts in Libya or Iraq do not guarantee the preservation of the objects.

As was the case with the Iraqi Jewish artifacts, the Libyan MOU legitimizes Libyas confiscation of the property of fleeing Jews by recognizing the Libyan governments legal claim to that property, Lubin told JTA in an email.

It gives a green light to future desecration by prohibiting the removal of sacred items from Libya for safe-keeping. It requires Libyan Jewrys heritage remain in place as a target for fanatics, all in the name of preservation, Lubin added.

Critics say Libyan-Jewish artifacts arent the only thing at stake. Granting the memorandum could set a precedent.

JIMENA is fighting this MOU because it sets a precedent to all of the Muslim, mostly Arab, countries who have desecrated and impounded all of our antiquities, all of our heritage, Waldman said.

Fitz Gibbon echoed Waldmans concerns.

There was recently an MOU granted for Egypt, and the past pattern for MOUs has been that one nation, then two nations, then all nations within a specific region were covered, Fitz Gibbon said.

Waldman said JIMENA is not concerned with the artifacts monetary value, but rather with establishing the fact that the objects belong to the exiled Jewish community.

Theyve already taken private property, and now they are going after community property and our heritage, Waldman said. It isnt money value that we are fighting for, but it is the right to know we are the rightful owners they are not.

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Why Jews From Libya Are Worried About the Fate of the Country's Jewish Artifacts - Haaretz