Tag: North Africa

North Africa
migrant camp

Drones deployed in Libya migrant crackdown

Libyan politicians wrapped up nearly three weeks of talks in Morocco meant to set a framework for the country’s long-delayed elections. Back at home, the country’s rival sides are both cracking down hard on migrants and refugees. The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity is using armed drones to target what it says are migrant traffickers bringing people in from Tunisia. In eastern Libya, authorities have reportedly rounded up some 6,000Egyptian migrants, deporting some and holding others in a customs hangar near the border. Some suspect that this has been driven by the political calculations of Gen. Khalifa Haftar, leader of the “Libyan National Army” that controls much of the country’s east. Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s far-right prime minister, visited Haftar last month to talk migration control amid an increase in people crossing the central Mediterranean. (Photo of migrant camp near Tunisian border with Libya: UK Department for International Development via Jurist)

Greater Middle East
Tunisian Jews

MENA Jews: Zionism or indigeneity?

Amid deadly Israeli air-raids on Gaza, a terror attack targets the ancient Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. The attack came as Jews from throughout the Mediterranean world gathered at Ghriba in the annual pilgrimage for the Lag B’Omer festival. In Episode 173 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg recalls how the Jews of Djerba have been repeatedly targeted over the past generation, with this latest attack coming in the context of a reconsolidating dictatorship in Tunisia and a harsh crackdown on the opposition. Yet the Tunisian Jews continue to resist Zionist pressure to emigrate to Israel, instead embracing their North African indigeneity. This embrace is overwhelmingly returned by the country’s Arab and Muslim majority, in repudiation of extremists who would target Tunisian Jews to avenge Israeli crimes. Prominent Tunisians were among the Muslims who sheltered Jews during the World War II Axis occupation of North Africa. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Rabbis at Djerba synagogue, 1940, via Beit Hatfutsot)

North Africa
libya

Libya: ‘crimes against humanity’ —and European complicity

The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya released a report finding grounds to believe Libyan authorities and armed groups have been responsible for “a wide array” of war crimes and crimes against humanity in recent years. The report further charged that European Union states have been complicit in crimes against humanity by Libyan forces targeting migrants trying to reach Europe. Legally barred from deporting migrants to Libya, EU governments instead give funding and technical aid to the Libyan Coast Guard, which has been accused of widespread “arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement and enforced disappearance” against migrants since 2016. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Greater Middle East
Daraya

Podcast: Libya and Syria, 12 years later

In Episode 165 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes the simultaneous 12th anniversary of the start of both the NATO intervention in Libya and the Syrian revolution. The NATO intervention was at root a bid to to control the political trajectory of the Arab Revolution, and bring about a Thermidor in which Western-backed technocrats would be ascendant. The Syrian people seized back the initiative with their popular uprising against the Bashar Assad dictatorship. But, following the precedent set in Libya, the Great Powers have intervened, seeking to impose their own order—over the heads of the Syrian people. This time, however, the principal interventionist power has not been the West seeking to coopt the revolution, but Russia seeking to prop up the genocidal ancien rĂ©gime. Listen on SoundCloudor via Patreon. (Photo: Daraya, 2011 via Leila’s Blog)

North Africa
Tunis

Tunisia: protest xenophobic attacks on Black Africans

Amnesty International called on Tunisia to put an immediate end to racist and xenophobic attacks targeting Black African migrants. The wave of violence began in early February and was exacerbated by a racially-charged speech by President Kais Saied at a National Security Council meeting. President Saied’s statements sparked street protests in Tunis, in defiance of an official ban on demonstrations. Activists also opposed a widening crackdown on dissent since Saied seized near-total powers in July 2021. The Tunisian National Salvation Front has vowed continued weekly protests. (Photo: Chahd Lina Belhadj/Meshkal)

North Africa
kabylie

Algeria: mass death sentence targets Kabylia activists

Amnesty International condemned the death sentences of 54 individuals linked by Algerian prosecutors to the lynching of activist Djamel Ben Ismail amid wildfires in the Kabylie region in August 2021. Amnesty alleged that numerous fair-trial violations occurred during the mass proceedings in November 2022, noting claims of torture, and prosecution of individuals due to their political affiliations. Amnesty found that at least six of the accused were targeted due to their involvement with the Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK). The MAK, a civil movement seeking independence for the Kabylie region, was labelled a “terrorist” organization by Algerian authorities in June 2021. A mob lynched Ben Ismail, who had been in the region as a volunteer fire-fighter, over false accusations that he had started the fires, which came amid an extreme heat wave. (Map: Kabyle.com)

North Africa
libya

Libya: ‘rampant crimes’ by Hafar-aligned militia

Amnesty International accused armed group Tariq Ben Zeyad (TBZ) of committing “rampant” war crimes and human rights abuses to enforce the rule of the so-called Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) and its leader Khalifa Haftar. The report details incidences of forced disappearances, unlawful killings, torture, and mistreatment of detained migrants and refugees. The LAAF, previously known as the Libyan National Army, controls the eastern portion of Libya and several cities, including Benghazi, Derna, Sirte, Tobruk, and areas outside Tripoli. The TBZ is headed by Haftar’s son Saddam, and Amnesty states that it exists primarily to enforce his rule through a campaign of terror.  A UN report earlier this year charged that Haftar’s forces are being backed by a contingent of mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Watching the Shadows
internet ban protest

Internet censorship laws advance worldwide

The United Nations Human Rights Office expressed concern over Turkey’s adoption of legal measures “that risk substantially curtailing freedom of expression in the country.” A package of laws passed by the Turkish parliament could see journalists and activists imprisoned for up to three years for spreading “disinformation.” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni meanwhile signed the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act into law, which advocacy group Unwanted Witness called a “looming nightmare to the freedom of expression and speech.” Last month, Tunisian authorities promulgated Decree No. 54 on Combating Crimes Related to Information & Communication Systems, imposing five years imprisonment for spreading “fake news.” (Photo of Turkish free-speech demonstration via Wikimedia Commons)

North Africa
libya

Libya: new fighting between rival governments

Heavy fighting broke out in Libya’s capital city of Tripoli, killing at least 32 people and raising concerns of a return to all-out war. Civilians were reportedly among those killed and injured in the clashes between forces loyal to Libya’s two rival governments: a Tripoli-based Government of National Unity headed by Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, and a House of Representatives based in the eastern city of Tobruk that chose its own prime minister for the country, Fathi Bashagha, in February. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

North Africa
Morocco

Morocco: Melilla massacre survivors get prison

A court in Nador, Morocco, sentenced 33 migrants, mostly from Sudan and South Sudan, to 11 months behind bars for “illegal entry” into the country and “disobedience.” The 33 are among the hundreds who last month attempted to enter Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla, sparking a violent response from authorities. Some 2,000 migrants stormed the heavily fortified border between the Moroccan region of Nador and the Spanish enclave, with many trying to scale the border wall. They were repelled by Moroccan and Spanish security forces, with up to 27 killed. The African Union is calling for an investigation into the repression. (Map: PCL Map Collection)

North Africa
libya

UN releases evidence of mass graves in Libya

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) released a report containing evidence of mass graves in the Libyan city of Tarhuna, southeast of Tripoli. The report estimates there could be as many as 100 undiscovered mass graves in the city. It claims that the al-Kaniyat militia, in power in Tarhuna from 2016 to 2020, is responsible for mass killings there. The militia is alleged to have used brutal torture methods on residents including women, children, the infirm, and the disabled. UNSMIL calls on Libyan authorities to “[e]stablish a Special Tribunal for Tarhuna to prosecute international crimes” and “[c]ontinue searching for the missing and for remaining mass graves…” (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)