Libya’s tribes meet to make peace, end skirmishes
Zawiyah – Libyan tribal leaders met on Saturday in the hope of easing tensions between clans in a country where the new central government is still weak, weapons abound and […]
Libya’s ex-oil minister criticizes new leaders
By VANESSA GERA | AP TRIPOLI: A senior official in Libya’s outgoing transitional government has sharply criticized the country’s new leadership as an unrepresentative “elite” supported by outside powers. Former oil and finance minister Ali Tarhouni also suggested in a press conference late Thursday that at least one of those […]
World changing, civil society advancing
By ALI BLUWI ARABNEWS Arab citizens are fed up with the West’s ideology as well as double standards Many pundits and analysts ponder the reasons that made the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 the breaking point in the Middle East. This transformative period led to instability, particularly […]
Guns cannot forever be used to rule Arab societies
By Rami G. Khouri, The Daily Star, Lebanon The resurgence of protests and clashes with police in Cairo and other Egyptian cities this week is more significant than the mass rallies that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak nine months ago. That’s because this week’s events touch on […]
Libya’s new cabinet shows who’s really in control
After weeks of delays and negotiation, Libya’s National Transitional Council finally announced a cabinet to run the country. But the real story is not the appointments themselves, but what they […]
ICRC says it has visited Gaddafi son in prison
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it has visited Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in detention on Tuesday.“The ICRC visited Saif al-Islam Gaddafi this afternoon in Zintan. He appeared to be in good health,” ICRC spokesman Steven Anderson told Reuters. Zintan is a small city in north-western […]
Kadhafi son Seif ‘arrested’ after three months on run
By Imed Lamloum, AFP TRIPOLI (AFP) – Murdered Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s fugitive son and one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam has been arrested in southern Libya, a senior National Transitional Council official said Saturday. Seif al-Islam, 39, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), was “arrested in southern […]
Welcome change in Arab League’s attitude
By GWYNNE DYER ARABNEWS For most of its 66-year history, the Arab League was a powerless organization, dominated by regimes that made sure it never criticized their lies and crimes. But suddenly, this year, it woke up and changed sides. Last March the Arab League suspended Libya’s membership because of […]
Libya: British spies foiled Libya plot to kill Westerners
The headquarters of MI6 in London. Source/Credit:TheTimes:Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 16:38 , by-AFP British intelligence agencies helped disrupt a plan to kill Western representatives in Libya and attack the country’s interim leaders, Foreign Secretary William Hague said today. In a rare speech on Britain’s secret intelligence efforts, Hague also confirmed […]
The Arab Awakening rewrites sovereignty
By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star, Lebanon Doha, Qatar, where I am early this week, does not seem to be the new political vanguard and locomotive of the Arab world of which many international press reports speak. This view of the emirate comes on the heels of the prominent […]
Terror, revenge engulf Nato’s Libya
The “new Libya” has entered its own “Terror” which is spreading inexorably, aided by NATO member states including American, French and British SAS units known locally as “disappearance squads”. This is one of the rapidly developing consequences of the UN’s rush to “protect Libya’s civilian population” last spring. And it […]
Law of the Jungle in Libya
Exclusive: The murder of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi was widely hailed in the West as a just outcome. But it involved powerful nations making up the rules as they went along, the law of the jungle disguised as international justice, observes Peter Dyer. By Peter Dyer If there is one […]
Libya interim leader: No place for extremism
By KARIN LAUB | AP Published: Nov 12, 2011 19:02 Updated: Nov 12, 2011 19:19 TRIPOLI: Libya won’t turn into an extremist Islamic country, its interim leader assured the European Union’s top diplomat on Saturday, adding that the formation of a new government of experts is to be completed in […]
American perplexity on Mideast trends
By Rami G. Khouri, The Daily Star, Lebanon After an extended stay in the United States that allowed me to speak with Middle East specialists and interested citizens in many cities, I sense a new theme that broadly defines American attitudes to developments in the Middle East: perplexity. Of course, […]
Islamic democracy and Libya – Let’s not fear…
Source/Credit:THE-TIMES-Thursday, November 10, 2011 Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said today that Malta has nothing to fear from Libya as an “Islamic democracy”. Addressing a meeting of MEUSAC – the Malta-EU Steering Action Committee – Dr Borg referred to comments by the new Libyan leadership that the future of Libya would […]
Lost civilization found in Libyan Sahara
New evidence of a lost civilization in an area of the Sahara in Libya has emerged from images taken by satellites. Using satellites and air photographs to identify the remains in one of the most inhospitable parts of the desert, a team from the University of Leicester in England has […]
Children play with machine guns in new Libya
By MICHEL COUSINS | ARAB NEWS BENGHAZI: At the entrance to the supposedly four-star Uzu Hotel in Benghazi, as in other hotels and restaurants in the city, there is a sign indicating guns must not be brought in. Another sign, also plastered around the city, exhorts men not to fire […]
Islamist commander sees Libyan fighters keeping weapons
By BRIAN ROHAN | REUTERS BENGHAZI, Libya: Fighters who toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi in Libya’s uprising will keep their weapons for now to aid in security, an Islamist commander said. Many are expected to leave their units, given the end of major combat operations, while those who stay could accept […]
In Qaddafi’s town, grim mood is good for sheep
By ALASTAIR MACDONALD | REUTERS SIRTE, Libya: In the shattered Libyan town of Sirte, the hometown where Muammar Qaddafi met his end last month, the mood was grim on the eve of one of Islam’s great festivals — the only good news was for the sheep. As fellow Libyans prepared […]
Religion: Libya and Polygamy
Source/Credit: Thursday, November 3, 2011 , by-R-Fsadni Almost two weeks ago, the official liberation of Libya was celebrated in Benghazi. The speech given by the country’s interim leader, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, has since gained international notoriety. The attention it got was justified but, unfortunately, it was also marred by misreporting. Meanwhile, […]