Libya Newsfeed

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

Looks like divisions within the rebel movement are already starting to expose themselves.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...y-libya-regime

Misrata rebels defy Libya's new regime

City refuses to accept appointment by National Transitional Council of former Gaddafi ally as Tripoli security chief


The first cracks in Libya's rebel coalition have opened, with protests erupting in Misrata against the reported decision of the National Transitional Council (NTC) to appoint a former Gaddafi henchman as security boss of Tripoli.
Media reports said the NTC prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, is poised to appoint Albarrani Shkal, a former army general, as the capital's head of security.
Protests erupted in the early hours of the morning in Misrata's Martyr's Square, with about 500 protesters shouting that the "blood of the martyrs" would be betrayed by the appointment.
Misrata's ruling council lodged a formal protest with the NTC, saying that if the appointment were confirmed Misratan rebel units deployed on security duties in Tripoli would refuse to follow NTC orders.
Misratans blame Shkal for commanding units that battered their way into this city in the spring, terrorising and murdering civilians.
NTC sources say Shkal, formerly a key confidant of Muammar Gaddafi, turned rebel informer in May, passing valuable information back to the rebel capital, Benghazi.
But Misratans believe that prior to that, he was operations officer for the 32nd brigade, whose overall commander is Gaddafi's son Khamis.
The brigade took the leading role in a siege that saw tanks and artillery bombard residential areas of the city, murdering several hundred civilians.
Shouting above anti-Jabril chanting and volleys of gunfire being fired into the air, one protester, Mohammed Zubia, said many people were shocked by the news. He said: "Mr Jabril says he wants to include all people who worked for Gaddafi but how can we accept that? We need new blood."
Mr Jabril, whose NTC executive installed itself in Tripoli over the weekend, says he wants to build an "inclusive" administration. He appears to have the tacit support of London, with the defence secretary, Liam Fox, telling al-Jazeera it was important the NTC avoided excluding members of the former regime.
London is believed to be keen to avoid a rerun of Iraq, where a de-Baathification programme saw the ruling administration removed and chaos follow the US-led invasion in 2003.
But Misratans say allowing Gaddafi regime officials to take key security jobs is not the answer.
"I can't see any justication for [it] whatsoever," said Hassan al-Amin, who returned to the town after 28 years' exile spent in the UK. "We have a big force in Tripoli. They are not going to follow orders from a war criminal."
The president of Misrata's council, Sheikh Khalifa Zuwawi, said Misratan rebel troops controlling many strategic points across Tripoli may refuse to obey NTC orders.
"I think all the Libyan thwar [revolutionary fighters] will not obey his [Shkal's] orders, not just those from Misrata," Zuwawi told the Guardian. "Shkal is with Gaddafi. Not long ago he was using troops to shell people in Misrata. Mahmoud Jibril cannot do it just by himself: it is against the people."
Behind the protests is a wider grudge between Misratans and the NTC, which many accuse of representing Benghazi rather than Libyans as a whole. Misrata's military council continues to refuse to follow orders from NTC army commanders, and some rebels complain that Misrata's units and those from the Nafua mountains, to the west, have not been recognised as having been the key to the fall of Tripoli.
"We won't follow his [Shkal's] orders, no," said Walid Tenasil, a Misratan fighter returning to garrison duty in Tripoli. "Our message to the NTC is: just remember the blood. That is it."
Misrata's protests pose a potential security problem for the NTC because it has come to rely on Misratan rebel units holding strategic points in the capital.

[DarkPast]

More racist violence by the rebels, as well as mass executions committed by both sides.

The rotting bodies of 30 men, almost all black and many handcuffed, slaughtered as they lay on stretchers and even in an ambulance in central Tripoli, are an ominous foretaste of what might be Libya's future. The incoming regime makes pious statements about taking no revenge on pro-Gaddafi forces, but this stops short of protecting those who can be labelled mercenaries. Any Libyan with a black skin accused of fighting for the old regime may have a poor chance of survival.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...n-2345261.html

Evidence emerged Friday that Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s retreating forces executed scores or even hundreds of political prisoners this week, even as victorious rebel fighters appear to have carried out their own abuses. Survivors of an attack by pro-Gaddafi troops said they had watched as fellow prisoners were mowed down by machine-gun fire, minutes after being told they were free.



But Gaddafi loyalists were also targets of apparent extrajudicial killings. Those deaths have cast a dark shadow over Libya’s newfound freedom and call into question whether the rebels will break with Gaddafi’s blood-soaked style of governance or merely mimic it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...pfJ_story.html

[Sasha]

+ YouTube Video

[Luís Henrique]

+ YouTube Video

Yeah, he cooperated with the CIA to suppress dissent.

But he did it in an anti-imperialist way, so we should support him...

Luís Henrique

[DarkPast]

TRIPOLI, Libya — Vivienne looked out through the bars of the Tripoli jail cell where rebel authorities had held her for five days. She is one of a group of 90 Nigerian migrants who were rounded up during the climatic battle here last month against Moammar Gaddafi’s troops, accused of possessing weapons and killing Libyans.

Vivienne said her only crime is her black skin.

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...oFK_story.html

[Os Cangaceiros]

shades of saddam...?

[brigadista]

+ YouTube Video

[war_saw]

Hi! I've just started to get into the question and ran across this point of view. I think it's quite reasonable. http://www.russian-blogger.com/conte...nd-view-russia What would you say to it?

[DarkPast]

Looks like Sirte has been reduced to rubble...

Ruined Sirte becomes a killing ground as Gaddafi loyalists face destruction, but mete out death of their own

For nine days, forces of the new Libyan government have been trying to seize the last area of Sirte still under Gaddafi loyalist control - with horrific destruction all around.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...their-own.html

[4 Leaf Clover]

Yeah, he cooperated with the CIA to suppress dissent.

But he did it in an anti-imperialist way, so we should support him...

Luís Henrique

Ghadafi is dead

Now there will finally be democracy in Libya

4 leaf clover (tho i dont know why i put my signature when every idiot can read my username from my .... username)

[Rocky Rococo]

Screen shots from the capture of Qaddafy. Warning, EXTREMELY graphic and gruesome.

Strong stomachs only

[brigadista]

SMH

http://af.reuters.com/article/invest...=investingNews



RIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's acute cash crisis is set to get worse and its banking system requires a complete overhaul that will be guided by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the central bank's recently appointed governor said.

Saddek Omar Elkaber told Reuters in an interview that just $1.5 billion out of around $170 billion of Libyan assets abroad had been unfrozen, and with the first delivery of the war-torn country's new banknotes still nearly two months away, the liquidity crisis was far from over.

"The first shipment will arrive at the end of December... We are going to have to manage the liquidity problem until then," Elkaber said earlier this week.

Elkaber, previously deputy CEO at the Arab Banking Corporation in London, replaced Gassem Azzoz as head of the central bank a month ago, officials of the governing National Transitional Council said.

Reform of Libya's banking system should be guided by a roadmap assembled by international bodies including the IMF, the new governor said, but for now the central bank's priority was coping with the banknote shortage.

Wage increases, medication and reconstruction are putting a further strain on the very limited cash supply, and queues outside banks have grown longer this week ahead of the greater Eid festival of sacrifice, when families traditionally buy a sheep for slaughter at a cost of around 500 Libyan dinars.

A lack of cash as well as a shortage of animals has caused prices to rise by several hundred dinar, compounding the problem.

Despite a UN resolution scrapping sanctions following the death of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, the process of unfreezing Libyan assets is lengthy because the money is spread out across many countries with different regulations.


"The promises have been made for the media," Elkaber said.

A NEW BANKING MODEL

He said he hoped the influence of international organizations would help shape a new Libyan model of banking, and the groundwork had already been laid by IMF and World Bank over the previous 2-3 years.

"The IMF and WB have a roadmap and I would like to go ahead with the facelift. We need a strong central bank," he said.

A primary obstacle would be overcoming a shortage of labour because the national workforce lacked the skills required for the banking sector - as in most sectors across the economy. These included English and other foreign languages, which were removed from the school curriculum under Gaddafi's rule.

"Over the past 42 years the old regime tried to break the education system... there are not enough high-skilled workers," he said.

Elkaber urged foreign skilled workers to return to the country, but conceded that worries about security could remain an impediment for years to come.

The demands of bringing the country's unruly and heavily armed militia under the control of the transitional government is worrying foreign observers and many foreign workers are adopting a wait-and-see approach until stability is restored.

"The security issue will take some time," he said adding that it could take five years for the new political system to settle.

For now, working out a basic budget and dealing with emergencies were the bank's priority. It was too early to comment on exchange rate policy, foreign licenses or specific banking models Elkaber said.

"Our focus is food, medicine and reconstruction in areas like Sirte, Misrata, Zintan and Zawia, but also in smaller towns, and to try to reactivate manufacturing," he said.

[ckaihatsu]

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Sheikh Ahmed Zubair al-Senussi emerged from the conference in Benghazi as the choice of the 3,000 assembled tribal, militia and political representatives for chief of a new interim council of Cyrenaica, or Barqa, as it is known in Arabic. The stated goal of the new council is to revive the constitution of 1951 imposed under Idris.

While the NTC’s Jalil blames the threatened splintering of Libya alternatively on unnamed Arab regimes and pro-Gaddafi infiltrators, the more obvious culprits are the US, NATO and the Western European powers. Their seven-month war last year succeeded in destroying the Libyan state and much of the country’s infrastructure, while claiming tens of thousands of lives.

http://www.wsws.org/mobile/articles/...liby-m08.shtml