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Category: Libya

Libya rebels ‘promised France 35% oil’

Paris – Libya’s rebels in April promised France 35 per cent of the country’s crude oil in exchange for supporting the National Transitional Council in its fight against Muammar Gaddafi, a French newspaper reported on Thursday.

Liberation newspaper published a copy of a letter in Arabic from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya, the forerunner to the rebels’ council, addressed to Qatar, in which the rebels apparently refer to a deal to give 35% of Libya’s crude to France in return for supporting the rebellion.

The letter, which was dated April 03, two weeks after the start of the military intervention in support of the rebels that France had championed, said the deal was struck with France “during the London summit”.

An international conference on the conflict in Libya was held in London on March 29.

France’s foreign ministry told Liberation it had no knowledge of the existence of the letter.

An NTC representative was not immediately available to confirm the existence of such a letter.

French oil giant Total is one of several players in the Libyan oil market. The biggest oil producer in Libya is Italy’s Eni.

Eni and Total have been tipped to emerge as the biggest winners in the post-Gaddafi era, given the strong support shown by their countries for the rebels.

– SAPA

www.news24.com, 01.09.2011

September 1, 2011
Libyan weapons for Gaza

Gaza Strip. Photo: EPA

Palestinians in Gaza have acquired anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets from Libya, by way of an overland supply route that opened up between eastern Libya — after it fell to the rebels — and the Gaza Strip via Egypt, Israeli radio said citing military officials on Monday.

Meanwhile, Egyptian military said it had intercepted a large number of anti-aircraft missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons on the Libyan border.

While the crisis in Libya has stirred Western concern about the fate of that country’s aging chemical weapons stockpiles, Israel has no indication so far that Hamas or other Palestinian factions have sought these, the officials said.

english.ruvr.ru, Aug 30, 2011

August 31, 2011
Leaked: UN’s Plan for Post-Gadhafi Libya

NATO ‘Mandate’ to Continue Beyond Regime’s Fall

by Jason Ditz

A new leaked document today reveals the United Nations’ vision for and preparations toward the inevitable post-Gadhafi Libya, complete with plans for foreign “military observers” and UN-run elections.

The UN plan also insists that the UN Security Council “mandate” that NATO used as a pretext for war isn’t going to actually end with the fall of the Gadhafi regime, and that the UN considers NATO to have an open-ended mandate to do whatever it wants to “protect civilians” going forward.

Today’s 10 page plan is starkly different from the NATO-rebel 70 page plan leaked earlier this month, which included plans for mass arrests of dissidents, the creation of a new state media to order people to obey the rebel regime, and a 15,000-strong UAE controlled occupation force in Tripoli.

The differences between the two plans may eventually be the source of some tension between NATO and the UN, which both have different visions of how they will run Libya. Given the UN’s belief that NATO is still free to operate as it wants, NATO’s plan may well be seen to trump the UN one.

news.antiwar.com, 29 August 2011

August 31, 2011
Rebels ask leader of UK’s Libyan Jews to run for office

U.K. Libyan-Jewish leader: I was invited to run for office in Libya

(JTA) — The leader of the Libyan Jewish community in Britain said he has been invited to run for political office in post-Muammar Gadhafi Libya.

Raphael Luzon told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, a day after the fall of the Libyan capital to rebel forces, that opposition leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil had invited him to return to Libya and run in free elections. Jalil is a former Libyan justice minister and now chairman of the rebel council in Benghazi.

Luzon told the newspaper that he was invited to take part in the elections “because they would like it to be open to all people, including women and Jews.”

Luzon, whose family fled Libya in 1967, met Gadhafi twice in recent years. He said he would await further developments in the country before making a decision.

Reconstruction of the war-torn country and the restitution of Jewish assets confiscated by the Libyan regime would top his political agenda if he ran, Luzon told the Jerusalem Post.

Fighting continued in the Libyan capital on Tuesday, centered around Gadhafi’s fortified compound.

www.jta.org, August 23, 2011

Rebels ask leader of UK’s Libyan Jews to run for office

By GIL SHEFLER, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

Raphael Luzon tells ‘Post’ that rebel council chief told him post-Gaddafi gov’t should include women and Jews.

The day after the fall of Tripoli to the rebels, the leader of a Libyan-Jewish Diaspora group said he was offered by the emerging ruling power to run for office in free elections in that country.

Raphael Luzon, the head of Jews of Libya UK, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that opposition leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil recently invited him to return to his country of birth and participate in the political discourse.

“A week ago I received an [invitation] from the chief of the rebels,” he said referring to Abdul Jalil, a former justice minister and current chairman of the rebel council in Benghazi.

“They proposed for me to take part in one of the parties because they would like it to be open to all people including women and Jews.”

The Benghazi-born Jew, whose family was forced to flee Libya following a pogrom in 1967, said he was waiting for further developments before he gave a definitive answer.

“I said I would accept it once I see it is real democracy and the proposal is offered,” he said. “If I do it I do it for one matter: the historical matter. The first Arab country that proposed that a Jew run in a free election.”

Jews have lived in Libya since ancient times. At its peak during the 1930s the Jewish community in Libya numbered 25,000 but persecution by Italy and Germany during World War II and a series of state-sponsored pogroms after Libya became independent in 1951 took a toll and its members immigrated mostly to Israel, Italy and the UK. The last Jew in Libya left the country almost a decade ago.

From his base in London, Luzon has been in contact with Muammar Gaddafi’s regime over the past decade representing the demands of Jewish Libyans abroad. He visited his country of birth several times and met with the Libyan dictator privately twice.

If he were to return to Libya, Luzon said the reconstruction of the war-torn country and the restitution of Jewish assets which were confiscated by the Libyan regime to their rightful owners would top his political agenda.

“As you know we left there 82 synagogues, land and property and I would like to take care of this because it belongs to the Jewish community of Libya,” he said.

Luzon dismissed fears that the northern African country might emerge as a hotbed for radical Islam.

“No country in northern Africa has a tradition of Islamic extremism,” he said. “They’re never Islamist. Perhaps there will be a small party in Libya but different than the ones in Egypt.”

The 57-year-old Luzon also did not rule out the option that Israeli Jews of Libyan descent would be free to visit their country of origin similarly to other northern African countries.

“If it will be democratic there will be no reason not to visit, like in Tunisia and Morocco,” he said.

He emphasized that all this depended on the outcome of fighting in the capital, which is still raging between the rebels and forces loyal to the Libyan dictator, who has so far evaded capture.

“First they have to get rid of Gaddafi, rebuild the country and decide which direction to take,” he said.

www.jpost.com, 23 August 2011

August 29, 2011
Libya: A classic CIA destabilization campaign

In the 1980s the CIA and Mossad led a campaign to destabilise Libya which mirrors what has just happened in 2011:

“The details of the plan were sketchy, but it seemed to be a classic CIA destabilization campaign. One element was a “disinformation” program designed to embarrass Kaddafi and his government. Another was the creation of a “counter government” to challenge his claim to national leadership. A third — potentially the most risky — was an escalating paramilitary campaign, probably by disaffected Libyan nationals, to blow up bridges, conduct small-scale guerrilla operations and demonstrate that Kaddafi was opposed by an indigenous political force.”

–Newsweek, 3 August 1981

30 years ago… Sound familiar?

August 28, 2011
Turkey Recalibres Its Policy On Libya

Turkey Recalibres Its Policy On Libya

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 8 Issue: 139

July 20, 2011

By: Saban Kardas

Turkey has hosted an important meeting, which marked the drastic transformation its policy on Libya has undergone. Although Turkey initially expressed strong opposition to military intervention against the Gaddafi regime, over time it adjusted its policy and managed to coordinate it with Western powers and various Muslim nations that have been working to end Gaddafi’s rule. The Libya Contact Group, bringing together these powers, held its fourth meeting in Istanbul, co-chaired by Turkey and the UAE, on July 15.

Predating the meeting, Turkey had undertaken several steps to forge closer ties with the Libyan rebels. Despite its opposition to the use of force, Ankara later agreed to the transfer of the operation to NATO command and joined the Libya Contact Group. However, Turkey’s insistence on a negotiated settlement, and its slow pace in cutting its ties with Tripoli arguably drew a wedge between Ankara and Tripoli-based National Transitional Council (NTC) (EDM, April 19).

While distancing itself from Gaddafi, Turkey progressively repaired its ties with the NTC. After joining the Contact Group, Turkey intensified its criticism against the Gaddafi administration. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued that a new period was to start in the history of Libya and called on Gaddafi to relinquish power. More importantly, following the temporary closure of the Turkish embassy in Tripoli the day before, Erdogan emphasized that Turkey would continue to work with the NTC to find a political solution (www.mfa.gov.tr, May 3).

During the second meeting of the Contact Group in Rome in the same week, Turkey argued for an immediate ceasefire and insisted on a roadmap it proposed earlier in April to end the conflict (Hurriyet, May 5). However, the inability of the Contact Group to agree on determined action and the deepening of the civil war rendered Turkey’s proposal largely ineffective.

Turkey then moved toward consolidating ties with the opposition, which came in mid-May when the chairman of the NTC, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, visited Turkey and met the president, prime minister and foreign minister. Although Turkish leaders described the NTC as a legal and credible representative of the people of Libya, they stopped short of extending official recognition. Satisfied with Turkey’s de facto recognition of their administration, Abdul-Jalil emphasized that they would discuss ways to improve trade with Turkey and how Ankara could assist the country’s reconstruction and provision of humanitarian aid. He also sought to make the case that the rebel forces held sympathy toward Turkey’s position and earlier protests against Turkey in Benghazi were due to a misunderstanding. More importantly, he said the NTC would honor all the agreements signed in the past by the Tripoli government, meaning that Turkish business investments in the country would be protected. Granted, reflecting perhaps a divergence with Turkey, Abdul-Jalil underlined the necessity of the military option to topple Gaddafi, though he avoided any request for Turkish military assistance (Anadolu Ajansi May 23; Zaman, May 25).

The real boost for Ankara’s ties with the NTC came when Davutoglu visited Benghazi. Arguing that Turkey and Libya shared the same destiny, he extended support to the Benghazi administration by describing it as the legitimate representative of the country, and adding that Turkey would soon appoint an ambassador to Benghazi. At the same time, Davutoglu made a commitment to provide $100 million in project credit and $100 million in cash credit, in addition to the $100 million Turkey previously provided. Davutoglu reiterated Turkey’s call for a roadmap, based on an immediate ceasefire, delivery of humanitarian assistance, an end to Gaddafi’s rule, and maintenance of Libya’s unity, and argued that a ceasefire should be established before the beginning of Muslim holy month of Ramadan (Anadolu Ajansi, July 3).

The Turkish government also took a major step, by issuing a decree to freeze the assets of Gaddafi and his family in Turkey, imposing a ban on their entry into Turkey, and opening the way for seizing the control of Arab-Turkish Bank which was partly owned by Libyan Foreign Bank. The decree also spelled out other measures to implement the arms embargo in line with the UN Security Council Resolution (Radikal, July 3). Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC’s spokesman on foreign affairs, paid a visit to Turkey to finalize the loan deal, where he also requested that Ankara grant access to the frozen assets. The Turkish side, however, declined to unfreeze the assets, citing the existing UN resolutions (Hurriyet Daily News, July 6).

Ahead of the Contact Group meeting in Istanbul, Davutoglu reiterated the need to reach a truce before Ramadan, while arguing that the Turkish proposal would constitute the basis for discussions. Although Ankara also extended an invitation to China and Russia, they declined to attend, arguing that the issue should be handled in the UN Security Council (Sabah, July 14). In his address at the opening of the meeting, Davutoglu expressed support for NTC’s request for the release of $3 billion from the frozen assets and its equal distribution in Tripoli and Benghazi (www.mfa.gov.tr, July 15).

While recognizing the NTC as the legitimate governing authority in Libya until an interim authority is set in place, the contact group took various decisions to aid the political transition, and assist the NTC in political, economic, financial and administrative fields. For instance, the final declaration urged participants to “open credit lines to the NTC corresponding to 10 percent to 20 percent of the frozen assets by accepting them as collateral” (www.mfa.gov.tr, July 15).

Although the conclusions outlined a roadmap for the political transition after the end of Gaddafi’s rule and decided to heighten pressure on Tripoli, the meeting failed to present clear answers as to how the current military stalemate will be overcome. Likewise, despite the incorporation of some of the elements from Turkey’s own roadmap, there was no decision to halt military operations in Ramadan. Granted, the process leading from the outbreak of the crisis in Libya to the holding of the Contact Group meeting in Istanbul reflects the high degree of flexibility on the part of Turkey. More importantly, it demonstrates Ankara’s determination to work closely with the United States, as was reflected by the warm welcome US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received from Turkish leaders during her stay in Turkey.

https://jamestown.org/program/turkey-recalibres-its-policy-on-libya/

July 20, 2011