Mediaboss Marketing

France closed its embassy in Tripoli in 2014 amid growing instability in the North African country.

French flag. Picture: Free Images.

PARIS - France's foreign ministry said on Friday security conditions were still not right to reopen its embassy in Libya despite a claim by the prime minister of a United Nations (UN)-backed government there that Paris wanted to restore its diplomatic mission soon.

France closed its embassy in Tripoli in 2014 amid growing instability in the North African country, but Fayez al-Seraj, the head of the Government of National Accord (GNA), said in a statement on 30 May that new President Emmanuel Macron had promised him to reopen the embassy "as early as possible."

"Our embassy for Libya is currently located in Tunis. We would like that it reopens in Tripoli as soon as security conditions are right" Foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal told a daily news briefing, adding that the current French envoy was making regular trips to Libya.

Macron's office issued a release on Thursday two days after the talks with Seraj saying that Paris continued to support his government and wanted a stable and united Libya on the basis of a political agreement between rival factions.

It made no mention of the embassy.

Italy reopened its embassy in Tripoli earlier this year making it the first Western diplomatic mission to return to the divided country.

France took a leading role in the NATO air campaign that helped rebels topple Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, but his demise tipped the country into years of chaos.

Diplomats have said Paris is reviewing its policy on Libya since Macron's election victory.

New Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian will travel to Egypt next week to discuss the crisis in neighbouring Libya.

In the previous government, the Foreign Ministry openly supported Seraj's government, while the Defence Ministry worked closely with eastern militia commander Khalifa Haftar, who has waged a campaign against Islamists in eastern Libya but resisted a rapprochement with Seraj.

Continued here:
France says security conditions not right to reopen Libya embassy - Eyewitness News

Despite initial claims by the British government, it is now clear that Salman Abedi, the man responsible for the bombing of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, was not a lone wolf but a member of terrorist network living in the United Kingdom under the protection of the government.

The UK has hosted a group of Libyan exiles with links to Al Qaeda in Manchester for decades. The exiles were part of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) opposed to the Gaddafi government.

Among that group was Abedi and his family. Abedis father, Ramadan Abedi, was a prominent member of LIFG.

Also, Abd al-Baset Azzouz, who left the UK to run a terrorist network in Libya overseen by Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, was part of the group.

LIFG was listed as a terrorist organization connected to Al Qaeda by the United Nations and banned from the UK under anti-terrorism laws.

In the aftermath of 9/11, LIFG seemingly lost all government support and became somewhat of a liability in the rapprochement between the UK and the Gaddafi-led Libyan government that occurred throughout the 2000s.

But in 2011, the LIFG was back in the UK governments good graces and LIFG exiles were allowed to go back to Libya to participate in the overthrow of Gaddafi. Some reports even claim the UK government actually encouraged the Libyan exiles to go back and that many of the foreign fighters in the Libyan civil war came from Manchester.

The Manchester bombing has all the hallmarks of blowback from the UK government pushing Islamic terrorists to attack another country. One of the same militants the UK government unleashed on Libya came back as an agent of the Islamic State to attack the country and city that fostered him.

This rather obvious point on the connections between foreign policy and terrorism at home was recently articulated in a speech by British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, with predictable consequences. Corbyn was immediately smeared as blaming the victims and excusing the terrorism.

Despite the smear campaign, a recent poll showed 66% of voters agree with Corbyn on the issue of foreign policy and terrorism.

Previous post

Next post

More:
Manchester Bombing Connected To Intervention In Libya - Shadowproof (blog)

New York Post

Dozens of Libya-bound migrants die of thirst in Sahara Desert New York Post At least 44 Libya-bound migrants including babies died of thirst in the scorching Sahara Desert after their truck broke down in northern Niger, according to officials. Six surviving women walked to the remote village of Dirkou, where they said ... Libya-bound migrants die of thirst in Niger desertLibya Herald LIBYA-BOUND: 44 migrants, including babies, die of 'thirst' in Niger desertIndependent Ghanaians travelling illegally to Libya die on Sahara desertYEN.COM.GH Washington Post -Aljazeera.com all 63 news articles »

The rest is here:
Dozens of Libya-bound migrants die of thirst in Sahara Desert - New York Post

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, on Thursday said it is too early to determine when production caps should be imposed on Nigeria and Libya.

The OPEC Secretary-General, Mohammad Barkindo, said this on Thursday at an economic forum in Russias St Petersburg.

Nigeria and Libya had earlier been exempted from an OPEC and non-OPEC producing members agreement to extend the crude oil production cut by another nine months to allow further rebalancing of the market.

The decision took place in May after the 2nd ministerial meeting of the two groups at the headquarters of OPEC in Vienna, Austria.

The President of the OPEC Conference and minister of energy of Saudi Arabia, Khalid Al- Falih, had said that the extension was necessary to further consolidate the gain by all stakeholders and the period would allow the market to achieve the five year average for stocks.

The two countries (Nigeria and Libya) are still well below the expected output quota, it is in our interest to be friendly and brotherly, and exempt them so that they get the maximum revenue from the amount produced. Its not appropriate to discuss any cut for them anytime soon, the President of OPEC conference had said.

In a chat with Reuters on Thursday, Mr. Barkindo, OPEC Secretary-General, said the two countries have challenges to resolve.

Too early to say when production caps could be imposed on Libya and Nigeria, they have a lot of issues to solve, he told Reuters.

On oil price decline, the OPEC scribe said that the cartel has no issues with people taking position, adding that the producers group has decided to focus on the fundamentals.

We have no issues with people taking positions in the market, he said, adding that we are focusing on fundamentals.

Meanwhile, Mr. Barkindo also disclosed that the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, told him Russia was fully committed to complying with output cuts.

View post:
Too early to reduce oil production caps on Nigeria, Libya OPEC - Premium Times

The UK could have done more to stop the chaos and bloodshed in Libya that followed Western intervention, a Foreign Office minister has admitted.

Tobias Ellwood defended RAF air strikes against dictatorMuammar Gaddafi, ordered by David Cameron, saying there was a duty to protect civilians during the North Africancountrys 2011 revolution.

The UKs role in Libya where Manchester bomber Salman Abedi had strong links has come under renewed scrutiny since the attack, whichkilled 22 people.

Manchester attack: City pays tribute one week on

Since the revolution, the country has descended into a state of semi-anarchy with power divided between rival governments and arms factions including Isis.

The unstable situation has also allowed Libyato become a central hub of the refugee crisisas peoplesmugglers take advantage of widespread lawlessness to launch thousands of boatstowards Europe.

Jeremy Corbyn said soon after the Manchester bombing that British foreign policy has worsened terror threats to the UK.

But Mr Ellwood, speaking about the Libyan campaign at a Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) event, said: "I really do believe that not knowing the full outcome of events is not reason for inaction."

He referred to the duty to protect civilian areas before adding: "But we didn't do it to try and transform Libya and do something else.

"We did it to support the people of Libya against a criminal and indeed a terrorist himself with what he did with the Pan Am flight and so forth.

"There were elections, there was a Prime Minister, there was a transition council as well and then also, of course, a general national congress.

"It was 40 years of misrule in a very complex society with huge tribal constructs across there, after 40 years all these tribes found they had a bit of space, a bit of elbow room, and yes perhaps we could have done more but we were asked to leave, the international community was asked to take a step back from its involvement.

"But, yes, there have been consequences of that which we now need to work with the Libyans to make sure that Derna and Sirte and places like this, where Daesh has now moved itself because we've been succeeding in Iraq, is not able to train those people that causes the harm in places like Manchester."

Also speaking on the panel was the shadowForeignSecretary,Emily Thornberry, who echoed Mr Corbyns comments.

She said the "failure of Libya" resulted in large ungoverned parts of the country which "directly leads to us being less safe" if these areas are used to train and arm people who "turn themselves on the West".

Barack Obama has been among the most prominent critics of the UK's role, last year accusing Mr Cameron of allowing the country to become a "shit show" after Gaddafi was killed.

Additional reporting by Press Association

More:
Minister admits UK 'could have done more' to prevent chaos in Libya - The Independent