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Military situation in Libya on 11 December 2016. Controlled by the Shura Councils of Benghazi, Derna and Ajdabiya

Controlled by the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG)

Controlled by local forces

The Libyan Civil War[1][2] refers to the ongoing conflicts in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to the First Libyan 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 African 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]

In recent months 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 Libyas 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]

Originally posted here:
Libyan Civil War (2011present) - Wikipedia

BEIRUT, LEBANON (6:55 P.M.) According to rumours circulating on Thursday, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, is allegedly currently hiding in the north-eastern Libyan city of al-Bayda, following his release from prison.

Local residents said that if the rumours were true, they would be fine with Said al-Islam being in their hometown, and that they support him since he is free by law and he is not condemned with any crime.

And for this reason, they believe that its his right to be anywhere in Libya like any other Libyan citizen.

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Local media report that Saif al-Islams mother Safia arrived in al-Bayda some months ago and that his uncles are living in the city as well.

ALSO READ Egyptians take to the streets to protest the transfer of 2 Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia

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Libya: Gaddafi's son could be hiding in northeastern Libya reports - AMN Al-Masdar News (registration)

GENEVA

The International Organization for Migration reports efforts are ongoing to rescue around 200 migrants, from Somalia and Ethiopia, who have been kidnapped in Libya and are being held for ransom.

News of the kidnappings and illegal detentions in Libya first surfaced in a video, which appeared on Facebook on June 9. The International Organization for Migration says families of the missing men and women have received ransom demands based on short video clips depicting scenes of active torture.

IOM spokesman Joel Millman told VOA the source of the video is not known, but there is little doubt as to its veracity. He said the scenes of people, dozens to a room, are graphic.

We understand that there are cases of people being tortured by cement blocks, I think, being put on their chest or put on their back," he said. "There are limbs broken. There are scars and cases of slack, listless men who appear to be emaciated. The witnesses themselves complain about not having been fed for quite some time.

Millman said the criminal gangs demand that families pay ransoms of $8,000 or more for the release of their loved ones. He said the families sell their livestock and other assets to meet these demands.

There is nothing new about the slaving industry, he said, as it has been around throughout history. What is new, he added, is the ready availability of digital devices and of high speed communication, even to some of the poorest villages in the world

It gives criminals an opportunity to profit from the digital age," he said. "There is no question that it is true that you can terrify a mother and father with a tweet or with an email or with a video you download onto a telephone in seconds. That kind of thing was not possible a generation ago and it is probably going to get worse.

The IOM said it is working with partners to try to locate the migrants and its staff, in coordination with authorities in Libya, is trying to trace and potentially aid in the rescue of these victims.

The politically-unstable country is a transit point for migrants seeking to head to Europe. The lack of a stable government makes them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

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Efforts Under Way to Rescue African Migrants Held for Ransom in Libya - Voice of America

As more refugees reach Italy, describing Libya as hell, Europe must ensure its actions and funds are not contributing to these abuses, urges Izza Leghtas from Refugees International. Fresh from research on Lampedusa, she outlines urgent steps for E.U. policy inLibya.

People wait to disembark from the Aquarius rescue ship run by SOS Mediterranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres.

On a sunny March day on the island of Lampedusa, a group of young men from the West African nation of Guinea sat on a bench overlooking the peacefulport.

Just three days earlier, they had survived the dangerous journey from Libya and were brought by rescuers to the small Mediterranean island. I asked them what Libya had been like. Libya is hell on earth, came the answer. That is the only word to describeit.

Interviewing refugees and migrants who had recently arrived from Libya, there seemed to be no end to the cruelty they had endured at the hands of ruthless smugglers, detention center staff, members of the Libyan coast guard and criminalgangs.

Many said they had been held for weeks or months in warehouses by smugglers who beat and tortured them and fed them only an occasional piece of bread or a small handful of pasta. Others said they had been detained in appalling conditions in detention centers where food was similarly scarce and beatings werecommon.

Women and girls are subjected to sexual abuse at all stages of the journey to Europe: in official detention centers, traveling through the Sahara desert and at the hands of peoplesmugglers.

Libya has been in turmoil since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 and currently has three competing governments, militias operating across the country and a blossoming people-smuggling trade. Sub-Saharan refugees and migrants face staggering levels of racism and are often called animals by locals. Men and women told me how even walking in the street was too dangerous, as they could be kidnapped and sold likecommodities.

European leaders, desperate to stem the flow of people arriving on their shores via Libya, have made a priority of preventing departures from the Middle Eastern country. They are working with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) and providing training and equipment to the Libyan coast guard as well as funding to international organizations working on theground.

When the Libyan coast guard encounters a boat carrying refugees and migrants, these individuals are taken back to Libyan territory, where they are detained in migrant detention centers under appalling conditions and severe human rightsabuses.

When it comes to finding and implementing solutions for the human rights crisis that refugees and migrants face in Libya, the list of obstacles and challenges is endless. But there are a number of urgently needed measures that European leaders can and should undertake immediately. They are essential if the E.U. and its member states are to ensure that their actions and funding do not result in, or even contribute to, the abuses that lead refugees and migrants to refer to Libya ashell.

The E.U. is empowering the Libyan coast guard to do something none of its member states could do without violating internationallaw.

To be clear, the E.U. is empowering the Libyan coast guard to do something none of its member states could do without violating international law returning people to Libyan territory and thereby exposing them to horrificabuse.

For this reason, the E.U. must urgently take steps to prevent such abuses from occurring. A first step would be to work with the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for the deployment of human rights monitors in places where refugees and migrants are forced to disembark on Libyan soil, and in the detention facilities they are taken to. In their talks with the Libyan authorities, the E.U. should also urge them to grant nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the U.N. refugee agency free access to refugees and migrants in the centers where they areheld.

One stated reason for the actions of E.U. leaders in the Central Mediterranean is the intention to prevent further loss of life at sea. But is saving a man, a woman or a child from drowning, only for them to be taken hours later to a detention center where they may face malnutrition, sexual abuse and deadly beatings, really savingthem?

Is saving a man, a woman or a child from drowning, only for them to be taken hours later to a detention center where they may face malnutrition, sexual abuse and deadly beatings, really savingthem?

The E.U. is spending more than $146 million on migration-related projects in Libya, part of which has been earmarked to improve conditions in detention centers. Last week, the German foreign minister announced that Germany would provide the Libyan authorities with $3.9 million to improve conditions in centers where refugees and migrants areheld.

But detention centers where people are deprived of their liberty with no judicial process and no end in sight, albeit with improved ventilation and more toilets, would still violate international law. The E.U. and its member states should insist that the Libyan authorities stop detaining migrants and refugees in closed facilities, or they risk legitimizing this abusivesystem.

It is no secret that for E.U. leaders, preventing refugees and migrants from reaching Italy via Libya is a priority. But actions that are taken in the name of European citizens and funded with their taxes should not lead to men, women and children becoming trapped in a place where they may face torture, slavery and rape. It is the duty of European leaders to uphold the values of human dignity and fundamental rights on which the E.U. was founded, whether it is north or south of theMediterranean.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of RefugeesDeeply.

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EU Must Not Fuel 'Hellish' Experience for Libya's Migrants - News Deeply

Powerless against the disarray and growing anarchy that spreads around smuggling of oil, gasoline, weapons and people Hasan Dhawadi, mayor of the Libyan city of Sabratha, raised the alarm.

In a press cference on 28 March, Dhawadi complained that this coastal city lacked the necessary means to stop the small and large-scale trade that had involved entire families for generations and moves tens of millions of euros annually.

The political instability and economic crisis that has gripped the country since the fall of Muammar Gaddafis dictatorship has facilitated dozens of opportunistic entrepreneurs joining the usual traffickers. We need outside help, he said.

Smuggling anything is a profitable and simple business in present-day Libya, a failed state without a government or unified military.

It is almost impossible to discern the limits of one or the other, or know the exact links because many times clans of the same tribe are each dedicated to a particular niche: some sell weapons, others sell people or fuel.

They work like the big supermarkets there is the fuel section, immigrants, weapons, cars, food, a European intelligence member working in the region told EFE under the condition of anonymity.

It is very difficult to fight them, they know the terrain, they have been in the business for a long time and they are well protected by heavily armed militias, he added.

Occasionally, the Libyan Coast Guard intercepts an oil tanker near a beach or the Tunisian authorities stop a truck at the border, Dhawadi said.

But the fact that its profits with little risk allows (all kinds of smuggling) to continue. And it will not stop while gasoline remains cheaper than a bottle of water in Libya, he said.

The mayor said that, without work or a future, enlisting in militias or entering into the vast world of illegal trade were easy exits (options?) for young Libyans.

We are not facing a new phenomenon, the intelligence officer said.

Smuggling is an activity that has always been seen in Sahel, even with Gaddafi, the difference being that it was controlled by the regime itself which took over the routes, he said.

The Tuareg and Tebu semi-nomadic tribes have lived in the inhospitable sands bordering Sudan, Algeria, Chad, Tunisia, Niger and Egypt for centuries, controlling the ancient caravan routes of the desert until the dictators greed perverted their atavistic way of life.

That region is the main operations center for networks dedicated to sending immigrants to the north, according to Frederic Wehrey, a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Any attempt by Europeans to stem the migratory crisis off the coast of Libya is doomed to fail if governance and security problems in the south are not resolved, he warned.

Wehrey said that the struggle between communities and ethnic groups for (the control of) oil fields, smuggling routes and the border has mingled with national political conflict and the interference of actors outside the south as well as outside Libya.

During the revolution against Gaddafi, a part of the Tuareg tribe joined the rebel ranks, although most of them stayed with the regime until the end.

Once overthrown, some Tuaregs joined the rebellion in Al-Azawad, a region in northern Mali, while the rest stayed in Sabha, the capital of southwest Libya, alienated by the new authorities.

The Tebu tribe took advantage of the situation and snatched the smuggling business in Kufrah district from the Arab tribe of Al Zawiya, favored by Gaddafi, with the help of opposition movements from Darfur (Sudan) involved in human trafficking.

In Rome on 2 April, both tribes renewed a pact signed in 1894 to divide the 5,000-kilometer-long (3,107 miles) desert border and the illegal trade with the Arab tribe Ould Sulaiman.

Their goal is to curb the ambitions of Marshall Khalifa Hafter, the strongman of eastern Libya, who has deployed forces to Sabha in an attempt to conquer the entire country.

Hafter knows that the south is essential. In addition to oil, he wants the smuggling routes. Both for profit and to stem the flow of weapons and money given to jihadist groups like the Islamic State or al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a local security source told EFE.

The signing in Rome coincided with the launch of a plan to stop smuggling in Libya by the UN-backed government in Tripoli, with the aid of international funds.

According to security officers EFE consulted in the Libyan town of Nalut, some 2.6 million litres of smuggled fuel enters Tunisia daily via Dehiba pass, and the same mafia is engaged in human trafficking from Tunisia to Libya, charging around $2,128 per person.

The link between smuggling and financing international terrorism is the last piece of this puzzle.

There are no precise data, but we believe that AQIM is a fundamental factor in the illegal sale of oil and fuel in southern Libya, a source from the local security attached to the triangle of cities Awbari, Sabha and Murzuq core to smuggling in Libya, told EFE.

Moreover, military leaders of the coastal town of Misrata have established a connection between terrorist movements and mafias that traffic people.

During the liberation of Sirte, military officials told EFE that some of the women sexually enslaved by terrorists were actually undocumented migrants who had been bought from the smugglers.

A distinguished Arab diplomat remarked that EU politicians and think tank representatives did not make use of keywords such as Iraq or Islam while discussing the Unions relations with its neighbours and the refugee crisis for several hours.

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Libya, a smuggling hypermarket EURACTIV.com - EURACTIV