By REUTERS DEAUVILLE, France: The Group of Eight promised $20 billion in aid to Tunisia and Egypt on Friday and held out the prospect of billions more to foster the Arab Spring and the new democracies emerging from popular uprisings. Likening it to the fall of the Berlin Wall that […]
All talk about the “emergence” of India and China has stopped with the continuance of the ceaseless bombarding of Libyan cities by NATO. This alliance seems able to go into action only in situations where it faces very weak opposition. Against such weaklings, its soldiers, sailors and aircrew fight eagerly, […]
AMMAN (Petra) ––– Participants at the International Conference on Investment in Islamic States held recently in Amman have called for establishing a fund to help displaced Libyans and provide them with the necessary humanitarian assistance. The conference, organised by the Jordan Chamber of Commerce and the Islamic Chamber of Commerce […]
2010 to 2011 have seen a major series of crises which have affected ever increasing numbers of people. Demand for humanitarian assistance has reached an unprecedented level at a time when long term conflicts continue unabated. The challenge for the ICRC in the year ahead, will be to meet these […]
LONDON May 25 (Reuters) – British Foreign Secretary William Hague dismissed fears that Western nations were getting dragged into an Iraq-style conflict with their campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. France, Britain and the United States are leading the air strikes on Libya, which started in March after the U.N. […]
African migrants, captured and jailed by the rebels they were fighting in Libya’s Western Mountains, say they were tricked or coerced into the army of Moammar Gadhafi in the belief they faced an al-Qaeda invasion. In rare first-hand accounts from a group branded “mercenaries” by the rebels, five men from […]
AMMAN (JT) – Jordan will appoint a permanent envoy in Benghazi to boost its coordination with the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC), seeking to achieve the goals of the Libyan people, a senior official said Tuesday. During a telephone call with Mahmoud Jibril, representative for foreign affairs with the TNC, […]
By David Harsanyi Contrary to pithy bumper-sticker truisms, war is occasionally the answer. But can anyone explain why it’s the answer now? At the moment, at least, polls insist that Americans are generally supportive of the United States’ intervening in the civil war now raging in Libya, so someone must […]
Western powers and their allies in the Middle East hope to grease the wheels of democracy and political stability as they begin to release billions of dollars in loans and other financial aid to the region’s Arab Spring economies. The economies of countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan are facing […]
Hugh Pope, Transtlantic Academy | 13 May 2011 The Middle East’s season of popular revolts for greater freedoms has thrown a critical spotlight on Turkey’s ambition for a leading role in the region, whether as an actor pursuing a ‘zero problem’ foreign policy or through the gravitational pull of its […]
Some believe it is about protecting civilians, others say it is about oil, but some are convinced intervention in Libya is all about Gaddafi’s plan to introduce the gold dinar, a single African currency made from gold, a true sharing of the wealth. “It’s one of these things that you […]
ROME (AP) — Police said Thursday that they rescued about 500 migrants from Libya after a small fire broke out on their boat miles (kilometers) off the Italian coast. Police patrol boats spotted the boat and were escorting it toward the small island of Lampedusa when the fire began, Maj. […]
A tiny Italian island off the coast of Africa has seen thousands of people fleeing unrest across North Africa. More than 30,000 people this year alone have made the risky journey to Lampedusa, which is only 20 sq km in size. Sonali’s gone there to find out what it’s like […]
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP – NEW MEDIA RELEASE Brussels, 13 May 2011: The longer Libya’s military conflict persists, the more it risks jeopardising or undermining the anti-Qaddafi camp’s avowed objectives. Civilians are figuring in large numbers as victims, both as casualties and refugees. The country is de facto being partitioned, as […]
By ARAB NEWs JEDDAH: Fifty percent of Saudis support NATO’s military intervention in Libya while 33 percent oppose it and 17 percent have no comment, according to an online poll. The findings, part of an international survey conducted by Ipsos last month, but just published, also shows remarkable support in […]
Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga has rejected a request by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to take in refugees trapped on the Libyan-Tunisian border. At a meeting in Brussels focussing on the influx of North African asylum seekers, Sommaruga said Switzerland had no more “capacity” and that the government did […]
“Get in the car, don’t walk around,” came the order. “There are drive-by shootings here.” Under the cover of darkness, the Benghazi ‘protection squad’ gathered. Speaking in muted, tense tones, clutching loaded guns, the men began the hunt. Across Benghazi city, the capital of the Libyan opposition movement, armed squads […]
MILAN — A ship carrying up to 600 migrants trying to flee Libya has sunk just off the coast of the North African country, the U.N. Refugee Agency said Monday, citing witness accounts. The agency is trying to confirm what happened to the passengers when the vessel broke apart at […]
and: “In case two parties of the believers fight against each other, bring about reconciliation between them. If, however, one of them persists in belligerence and transgresses against the other, bring your collective might to bear upon the one that transgresses to force him until he agrees that his dispute […]
VATICAN CITY: The Vatican’s delegate in Tripoli is calling for a halt to NATO air strikes in Libya and for the West to negotiate with Muammar Qaddafi’s government, insisting the Libyan leader doesn’t oppose dialogue. Monsignor Giovanni Martinelli, the Holy See’s longtime apostolic vicar in Tripoli, said in a telephone […]